i 




1^ Xi 



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LETTERS 

ON 

EGYPT, EDOM, 

THE HOLY LAND. 



BY 

LORD LINDSAY. 



dfourtf) 35Kttton, 

REVISED AND CORRECTED. 




LONDON: 
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 

GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET 



/ 



/ 



PREFACE. 



(TO THE FIRST EDITION.) 

I HOPE that those who do me the honour of perusing 
these Letters will not take them for more than they are 
worth, — a simple, and, I trust, faithful record of im- 
pressions as they arose, and incidents as they occurred, 
such as I conceived would be read with interest at home. 
In preparing them for the press, I have divested them 
of much that could possess no general interest. If 
certain allusions to members of my family circle have 
been allowed to stand, it is only because they arose so 
naturally out of the circumstances that they serve to 
illustrate them, or that, in one or two instances, I could 
not find it in my heart to cut them out. 

I may be permitted to allude to the subject of many 
reflections in these volumes — the literal accomplish- 
ment of prophecy, as displayed in the actual condition 
of Egypt, Edom, and Syria. Others have borne their 
testimony; it is but adding a stone to the cairn, yet I 
cannot, and ought not, to withhold mine. 

I embrace with pleasure this opportunity of express- 



IV 



PREFACE. 



ing my sincere acknowledgments for the uniform 
courtesy and kindness I experienced during my recent 

tour. To Tibaldi, Esq., of Alexandria, and his 

amiable lady, — to Colonel Campbell, her Majesty's 
Consul-General in Egypt, — to M. Piozin, Vice-Consul, 
— to Dr. Walne, John Hannay, Esq., and the Rev. 
Theophilus Lieder, at Cairo; — to the Reverend the 
American Missionaries, and — Moore, Esq,, at 
Jerusalem; — and to Nathanael Moore, Esq., British 
Consul at Beyrout, (whose courtesies I regret having 
been prevented from personally acknowledging,) — my 
peculiar thanks are due. On my obligations to Mr 
Farren, Consul- General in Syria, I will not dwell in 
this place. 

I cannot conclude without adverting to the lamented 
decease of my friend and near relation, Mr. William 
Wardlaw Ramsay, the companion of the greater part 
of my tour. 

If excellent abilities and sound judgment, expand- 
ing and maturing every day — if singular genius for 
music and drawing, and a general love for the fine 
arts, balanced by an enlightened taste for science and 
natural philosophy — if sweetness of temper, a warm, 
kind heart, and sincere but unostentatious religious 
principle — be qualities to render a character attractive 
and estimable, and to enhance the sorrow of surviving 
friends for the loss of one who, if spared by an all-wise 
Providence, would have been a blessing to his family 
and an ornament to society — -such a character, such 
qualities, were Mr. Ramsay's. 



PREFACE. 



V 



I have extraoted from his private journal, and ap- 
pended to the present work, in the shape of notes, 
many passages which, I think, will be read with interest 
by every one into whose hands these volumes may fall. 

Haigh, Feb. 1838. 



(TO THE FOURTH EDITION.) 

In sending forth these Letters, probably for the last 
time, I have carefully revised them, and appended a 
few additional notes where occasion presented itself 
Certain speculations — which I would not be understood 
to insist upon with so much earnestness as I did nine 
years ago — have been allowed to remain ; others, which 
more recent research has disproved, have been omitted. 
My journey was undertaken, and the record of it pub- 
lished, previous to the appearance of the works of 
Rossellini, Wilkinson, and Bunsen on Egypt, and of 
Dr. Robinson on Palestine — works invaluable to the 
student at home and the traveller abroad, and with 
which the expectation of Europe already classes the 
labours of Lepsius. Had it been my fortune to possess 
guides like these during my wanderings in the East, 
the volume, which I now finally dismiss, would have 
been more deserving of the favour with which it has 
been honoured by the public. 

Haigh, 1 January, 1847. 



CONTENTS. 



EGYPT. 



LETTER L 

Cadiz—Gibraltar — The Cork Wood— Carteia - - ^ p. 3 



LETTER n. 

Voyage to Malta — San Giovanni— Ruins and Catacombs of Alex- 
andria - - - - - - - - -11 



LETTER III. 

Voyage to Cairo — Sais — Introduction to the Pasha — Tombs of the 
Mamaluke Sultans— Cairo at sunset — Bazaars— Courtesy to 
Franks — Garden of Roda — Old Cairo— Cemetery of the Mama- 
luke Beys — School at Boulac — Printing-press — Egyptian Chris- 
tians — Jews — Magicians, Jugglers, &c. - - 21 

LETTER IV. 

Visit to the Pyramids — Pyramid of Cheops — Evening with Caviglia 
— Pyramids of Cephrenes and Mycerinus — Arab traditions re- 
specting the Pyramids — The Sphinx, a talisman — Heliopolis — 
The Pyramids probably built by the Pali, or Shepherd-Kings of 
Egypt, afterwards the Philistines, in the time of Abraham 38 



LETTER V. 

Our Dahabieh — Night- Scenes on the Nile — Pyramids of Saccara 
Dashour, &c — The False Pyramid— Minieh — Story of Ebn 
Khasib — Siout — Tombs of Lycopolis — Stabl Antar — Traditions 
of the Copts — Ruins of Abydus — Palace of Sesostris — Ken- 
neh 61 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER VI. 

Sect. L — Thebes — Temples — Sculptures — Tombs — Fulfilment of 
the Prophecies - - - - - - - - 78 

Sect. II. — Esneh — Edfou — Essouan — Ascent of the Cataracts — 
Nubia — Wellee Kiashef — Wady Haifa — Descent of the Cata- 
racts — Wreck, and detention at Essouan - - - 103 

Sect. III. — Temples of Herment — Dendera — Ombos — Tombs of 
Benihassan — Memphis — Pyramids of Saccara and Dashour — 
Cairo - - - - 148 



EDOM AND THE HOLY LAND. 



LETTER I. 

Journey to Mount Sinai. Desert of Suez — Mara — Route of the 
Israelites — Wady Shellal— Wady Mokatteb — Wady Feiran — 
Ascent to the Sinaite Mountains — Ascent of Mount St. Cathe- 
rine — Of Gehel Mousa — Of Gebel Minn>gia, possibly the real 
Sinai - 159 



LETTER II. 

Departure for Akaba — Abdallah's wound — Return to the Convent 
— Joined bv Dr. MacLennan and Mr. Clarke - - 198 

LETTER III. 

Route to Akaba— Conference with the Alouins — Wady Araba — 
Sheikh Hussein's camp — Mount Seir — Petra— Cross the desert 
to Hebron— Bethlehem — Approach to Jerusalem - - 203 



LETTER IV. 

Sect. I. — Jerusalem/ Excursion to Jericho and the Dead Sea — 
Journey to Tiberias by Nablous, Samaria, Acre, Nazareth, and 
Mount Tabor 243 

Sect. II. — Journey, east of the Jordan, by El Hussn, Ora Keis, 
Jerash, Ammon, Bostra, and through the Hauran, to Damas- 
cus - - - - 263 

Sect. III. — Visit to Palmyra 315 

Sect. IV. — Journey into Mount Lebanon, and return to Damas- 
cus 329 



LETTERS ON EGYPT. 



u All were but Babel vanities ! Time sadly overcometh all things, 
and is now dominant, and sittetb on a Sphinx, and looketh upon 
Memphis and old Thebes, while his sister, Oblivion, reclineth demi- 
somnous on a pyramid, gloriously triumphing, making puzzles of 
Titanian erections, and turning old glories into dreams. History 
sinketh beneath her cloud. The traveller, as he paceth amazedly 
through those deserts, asketh of her, Who builded them ? and she 
mumbleth something, but what it is he heareth not. 

" Egypt itself is now become the land of obliviousness, and doteth. 
Her ancient civility is gone, and her glory hath vanished as a phan- 
tasma. Her youthful days are over, and her face hath become 
wrinkled and tetrick. She poreth not upon the heavens ; Astronomy 
is dead unto her, and Knowledge maketh other cycles. Canopus is 
afar off, Memnon resoundeth not to the Sun,andXilus heareth strange 
voices. Her monuments are but hieroglyphically sempiternal. 
Osiris and Anubis, her averruncous deities, have departed, while 
Orus yet remains, dimly shadowing the principle of vicissitude and 
the effluxion of things, but receiveth little oblation." 

Sib Thomas Browne. 



LETTERS ON EGYPT. 



LETTER I. 

Cadiz — Gibraltar — The Cork Wood — Carteia. 

TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL LINDSAY. 

Gibraltar, November 10, 1836. 

How I longed for you yesterday, dear James, at Cadiz ! 
and here, too, at Gibraltar, happy should I have been 
this morning to have had your company during the 
glorious scramble I have had over every ridge of the old 
Rock! But of Cadiz first: — I thought, as we sailed 
away yestreen, (a delicious autumnal evening,) I had 
never seen a lovelier sight, — her long serrated ridge of 
white buildings sharply defined against a glowing sun- 
set sky — Rota glittering, like a town of King Salem's 
sprung up from Ocean, at the further extremity of the 
bay, tipping its horn, as it were, with a diamond crown — 
the lateen sails scudding around us like gigantic nauti- 
luses, stooping over the green water's like the beautiful 
sea-birds that were sporting in every direction — it was 
lovely, very lovely ! 

We had but four hours allowed us to visit Cadiz ; I 
threw my shyness to the winds, and used my eyes, — 
stared into every nook and corner, and at every one, 
man and woman, we met. But you cannot have for- 

B 2 



4 



CADIZ 



gotten the scene, though long familiarity with its details 
may have effaced the remembrance of your first general 
impressions ; to me it was all " fresh and fresh, new 
and new," — aliving, breathing, moving picture, a waldng 
dream rather, for whether I was in or out of the body I 
can scarce tell, now that I reflect on the vision, so many 
ideas familiar to my fancy wqye then presented to my 
eyes in the first warm glow of reality; all, too, intensely 
Spanish: — the long black cloaks of the sleepy hidalgos, 
long as their names, threadbare, many of them, as the 
mantle of chivalry their ancestors wore so gracefully— 
the Moorish faces, conical hats, and sashes of the lower, 
and, as they seemed to me, far nobler order — the ciga- 
rillos, common to all — the fans, mantillas, the black 
eyes, beautiful feet, and graceful gliding gait of the 
Senoritas — but what frights the old women are ! And 
then the painted balconies above, that give such a cha- 
racter to the straight narrow stradas — flowers in most 
of them, but alas ! the " fairer flowers," Eve's daughters, 
were few or none visible upon them — and the dazzling 
whiteness of the houses ; everything, too, as clean as if 
the Gaditanos were Dutchmen, — it was like a scene of 
enchantment ; to say nothing of the exquisite delight of 
being on Spanish ground, and hearing the language of 
Calderon and Cervantes on every lip that passed me. 

I saw but two or three priests, not idly sauntering 
about, as in the palmy days of Rome, but walking, it 
seemed to me, with an object, — slowly, however, as if 
their ponderous shells of hats were too heavy for them, 
and crest-fallen ; in this respect your Spanish recollec- 
tions must vary from existing circumstances ; the con- 
vents, too, were all shut up, and the bells over the gates 
looked as if conscious of having tolled their last. We 
knocked loud and long at one of the conventual build- 
ings, in hopes of seeing some pictures once shown there ; 



CADIZ. 



5 



but no " porter hurried to the gate," the street was silent, 
only one boy to be seen in it, and he could not tell us 
who had the keys. 

The cathedral, however, is still building — a most 
superb edifice, of the richest Corinthian architecture, 
but overloaded in many places, I thought, with orna- 
ment ; the choir, however, is truly beautiful, all of 
marble — indeed the whole temple is so, and exquisitely 
finished. Yet I do not like the Corinthian ; the " airy 
pillar" and the u decent matron grace" of the Ionic are 
far lovelier, far purer, far holier ; the Doric and Ionic 
remind one of Adam and Eve as they walked in naked 
innocence, and in all their original brightness, through 
the bowers of Paradise ; but the spirit of the Corinthian 
is meretricious, too like that of the Laises and Co. of 
old Corinth herself, — this is fanciful, perhaps, but there 
is a deep poetry, a hidden melody, in architecture, 
"frozen music," as it has been called, but it thaws now 
and then, when the fancy warms, and discourses most 
eloquently to her ear and eye. 

How beautiful, by the way, are Schlegel's criticisms 
on the Gothic Architecture ! Did Anne tell you I have 
him with me? Shakspeare has been my chief reading 
since I left Old England ; this she will be glad to hear. 
I have read over again several of his plays, but exqui- 
sitely beautiful as they are whenever he is himself, the 
pure poet, I cannot away with his clowns and vile puns, 
grossieretes, and double entendres, bad enough even among 
men, but which he allows even his heroines to hear, 
ay, and understand, ay, and reply to. But Desdemona 
is perfect throughout ; I was trying her the other even- 
ing, as I lay in my cabin, by the severest ordeal, 
St. Paul's exquisite delineation of Charity, or, as it 
should be translated, Love ; Shakspeare must have had 
it in his thoughts ; it fits her in every point, especially 



G 



CADIZ. 



in her unsuspicious purity, " thinking no evil;" observe 
her wonder in what manner her husband could think 
her false, and oh ! what a contrast between her mind 
and Emilia's at the end of the fourth act; and, again, 
between her and Juliet, the poetical, passionate Juliet ; 
I remember no one simile or metaphor that Desdemona 
utters, and Juliet's fancy is rich as the orange groves 
of Mola di Gaeta, and sparkling as the waves that 
ripple to their feet, but she is " of the earth, earthy," in 
comparison with the pure azure heaven of Desdemona's 
mind, which one can gaze up into as into infinite space, 
unarrested by a cloud, unless of tears and sorrow! 
How beautiful, though, and how natural is the moon- 
light scene between Juliet and Romeo ! When I think 
on it, I almost fear I have judged her harshly — and 
yet, no. 

It has just struck twelve ; I am sitting with my window 
open, a brilliant starlight night, the air balm ; I could 
almost expect a visit from the Diable Boiteux, and 
should not be sorry to have the houses of Gibraltar un- 
roofed for my inspection, — and this reminds me of one 
of the things that most interested me at Cadiz — a visit 
to the terraced roof of M. Campan's house — a kind old 
French merchant, our fellow-passenger, who enter- 
tained our party most hospitably. It was the best 
possible commentary on many a passage, not only in 
Spanish, but Eastern romance ; with a short rope- 
ladder one might travel over half the town. The house 
itself seemedbut just finished, yet, in character, was quite 
Moorish; a court in the centre — balconied galleries 
opening upon it at each story — mats, &e. &c. — every- 
thing calculated to promote coolness. 

I kept a sharp look-out for traces of the Moors, and 
they are very visible. I thought of riding across country 
to Gibraltar, but was advised to give up the idea; the 



GIBRALTAR- 



7 



country, they said, was uninteresting, (I should have 
seen manners, however,) and, what decided me, my 
time here would have been much curtailed ; I came on, 
therefore, by sea, and this morning, about nine, we 
anchored under the Rock of Gibraltar. 

I am glad that I saw Cadiz, a thoroughly Spanish 
town, before coming to this mongrel neutral ground, 
intensely interesting though it be. Bedreddin Hassan, 
awaking at the gate of Damascus, entered an unknown, 
but still an Eastern city; the contrast to him was no- 
thing to what it was to me, stepping off the quay of 
Cadiz, surrounded by wild Cadesians, with their Cala- 
brian-like hats, swarthy as their Phoenician ancestors, 
to be set down among English uniforms, sentries, and 
all the pomp and circumstance of British soldiery, 
guards changing, officers riding past, and all speaking 
English. Bat nothing of this incongruity offended our 
eyes as we approached the Rock — Europe and Africa, 

" A palace and a prison on each hand," 

of Nature's architecture, or such rather by the God of 
Nature's decree ; the morning was gloomy, a lowering 
mist hung heavily over the Rock in front of us, and I 
could almost have fancied we were arriving at the 
Table Mountain instead of the northern pillar of Her- 
cules. Mount Atlas was but dimly seen in the distance, 
but a purer light gleamed over Algesiras, as if the rays 
of chivalry still lingered over the death-scene of " the 
good Lord James of Douglas;" as the day advanced, 
the clouds disappeared, and when I gazed around me 
a few hours afterwards from the Peak of Tarif, a sunny 
haze was the only resemblance the scene bore to our 
northern atmosphere. 

I need not tell you of the excavations, galleries, St. 
George's Hall, the blasted watch-tower, &c. ; you know 



8 



GIBRALTAR. 



them all — I scrambled over the whole mountain, taking 
a most intelligent artilleryman as my guide, a fellow- 
countryman, as I ascertained by the first word he 
spoke — his sergeant is a Lindsay from Dunse. I feared 
we should not see the monkeys, but there they were in 
numbers, apparently on excellent terms with the goats, 
their only companions on the height. 

How beautiful the palmetto is! And how Anne 
would have enjoyed the descent, through a perfect 
garden! strange tropical-looking plants, the fantastic 
prickly pear, and the aloe, hedging the path-way, andher 
old Italian acquaintances, the fig, almond, orange, and 
lemon, and the grateful plane-tree — ay, and the Scotch 
fir, growing luxuriantly (and the richest vines too) on 
the lower zone of the mountain. We descended by the 
Mediterranean Steps, as they are called, cut in the pre- 
cipitous face of the rock, and winding round towards 
Europa Point ; the broad Mediterranean — with those 
picturesque lateen sails that look as if, at the approach 
of a storm, they would furl themselves up and sink to 
the bottom — expanded in front of us, glowing in the 
waning sun, 

" A leaf of gold 
Of Nature's Book, by Nature's God unrolled." 

I have just been leaning out of the window listening 
to a serenade ; all below me dark as Erebus, the raven 
down of night, and all silent save the " lively guitar," 
and the deep voice of the caballero mingling in har- 
mony, and swelling richly on the night-air. And when 
the last note died away, I could just hear the closing 
strain of another, far, far off, dying into silence like the 
echo of the " song of the olden time" I had just been 
listening to. Music such as this might have been 
lingering on the ear of Melancholy, when Albert Diirer 
surprised, fell in love with, and immortalized her. 



GIBRALTAR. 



9 



Very pleasant food all this for midnight musing, yet 
daylight, too, has its attractions, and I then look down 
on a motley and ever-shifting scene, all nations seem- 
ing to meet here as at Venice, though Gibraltar, to be 
sure, is anything but " enchanted ground," — the Moor, 
with his white turban, burnoosh, and trousers ; the 
Jew, with his black skull-cap, beard, and Israelitish 
face, the index of his pedigree the wide world over — - 
I saw one stalk past this morning with the very air of a 
Maccabee, his haughty mien, and the scorn throned on 
his erect brow (or I wronged him) alike contrasting 
with the humble subdued gait of his brethren, and the 
holiday attire and light springy step of the Andalusian 
peasant, — the contrast of a rt gay Gordon" to a "black 
Douglas" — no disparagement, surely, in a comparison 
with the Wallace of Judea; then comes the mule or 
donkey-driver, haranguing his beast as he trudges be- 
hind it, side by side, oh atrocity ! with an English red 
coat. Here, at least, " motley is the only wear." And 
now dear James, buenas noches, and God be with you ! 
I will not wish you the misery of living a thousand 
years. More to-morrow. 



To-day, November the 11th, we have had a delightful 
gallop, Missirie and I, into Andalusia, past La Roque, 
to the Cork-wood, about ten miles from Gibraltar ; the 
scenery is quite beautiful; the day, at first rainy, 
cleared up ere we had ridden half a dozen miles, and 
the afternoon was lovely. From a ruined Moorish 
tower in the centre of the wood, we enjoyed a most 
beautiful prospect over the long vale we had passed 
through, wooded with cork-trees, olives, vines, oranges, 
lemons, and one noble palm-tree near a convent — a 
steep range of mountains closing the vista at one end, 



10 



GIBRALTAR. 



the Rock at the other, rising over the waves like some 
vast Preadamite sea-monster. 

Returning, we rode hither and thither, this way and 
that, in search of the old town of Carteia, supposed to 
have been the first founded by the Phoenicians after 
passing the pillars of Hercules. After a long search 
we found it ; the theatre is clearly traceable, scooped 
out in the side of the hill, looking towards Gibraltar; 
the background of the scene must have been noble 
indeed, the Mediterranean rushing between the two 
continents. 

I am more and more pleased with Missirie ; he is 
the most attentive creature possible, good-humoured, 
observant, and intelligent. I had much conversation 
with him this morning during our ride; he is really an 
agreeable companion, having read not a little by fits 
and starts, and having seen so many countries. He 
had studied for two years at Odessa, when the Greek 
revolution broke out, and then joined the patriots. We 
are on the best terms, and I am sure we shall continue 
to be so. His facility in acquiring languages seems 
extraordinary. English he speaks with singular cor- 
rectness (*) 

Saturday, ^November 12. 

I had no idea this letter would go so soon, but a 
steamer, I have just heard, sails for England in a day 
or two ; and as I have no time to epistolize my mother 
at length, and she will be anxious to hear all my 
adventures, I have presumed to direct this letter to her, 
begging her to read and forward it to its rightful owner. 
We have a heavenly day, " blue above and blue below," 
for our departure. By-the-bye, they have an admirable 
garrison library here ; the catalogue is well drawn up, 
on the plan of that of the Royal Institution by Harris. 



VOYAGE TO MALTA. 



11 



I think I should like to spend a month or two here ; 
nowhere, I suppose, could one enjoy at once such a 
climate and such a library. 
Adieu. 



LETTER II. 

Voyage to Malta — San Giovanni — Ruins and Catacombs of 

Alexandria. 

TO THE COUNTESS OF BALCARRES. 

Malta. 

We left Gibraltar, my dear mother, on Saturday after- 
noon, the 12th, and have had charming weather, and a 
delightful voyage to Malta. Sunday and Monday we 
were coasting Spain and Barbary, and admiring the 
mountain ridges that frown from either shore, awaken- 
ing memories how interesting ! of Juba and the Romans, 
on the one hand — of the Xarifas and Fatimas, the 
Zegris and Abencerrages, of poor Boabdil, and of 
Gonsalvo de Cordova, on the other. 

About eight on Monday night we touched at Algiers 
— rthrilling name ! The crescent moon was gleaming 
over it, but not very clear ; the crescent is pale, pale 
all over the East now. We landed a young Dane 
there, the son of the Danish consul at Tangiers, and 
one of the Royal Guard of Denmark; he was going to 
join the French expedition against Constantina, and I 
really felt sorry when he left us on such a perilous 
adventure. I found him full of information, and very 
intelligent, particularly on the subject of Northern 
antiquities ; he sang me several of his Danish songs as 
we walked the deck. 

Still coasting the Barbary mountains — so runs the 
log-book ; pass Bona, old Hippo Regius, dear to the 
memory as the home of St. Augustine— but during the 



12 



MALTA 



night, alas ! — Bizerta — the Cani rocks — Porto Farina 
(Cato's Utica) and Cape Carthage, behind which lie the 
sites of Dido's palace, Cyprian's garden, where the 
soldiers seized him — generous, noble-minded Cyprian ! 
Then across the Bay of Tunis, with a beautiful view of 
the mountains hemming it in to the south; before 
weathering Cape Bon, pass the vast and lofty island- 
rock of Zembra, reminding one, when directly north of 
it, of the volcanic isle of Sabrina. Bid adieu to the 
Barbary coast, and for a while nothing but the sea- 
circle for our horizon ; presently Gozo in sight — rough 
rocky hills, but the lights and shadows beautiful — skim 
past it through the waves on which Telemachus floated, 
if Gozo be the Isle of Calypso, which I don't believe it 
was— and lo ! Malta, with her deep harbours, pictu- 
resque tiers of houses, impregnable batteries, and 
English shipping! How changed — 

But I had Mttle time, or, in truth, inclination, at that 
moment, to think of days bygone, for scarcely had we 
anchored in the quarantine harbour, when dear William 
came alongside to greet me ; he had secured me rooms 
in Beverley's Hotel, and we adjourned thither without 
delay ; he is remarkably well, and we look forward 
with great pleasure to the prosecution of our tour 
together. 

Oh! the rapture of a first visit to San Giovanni! 
those gorgeous and chivalric tombs of the Grand 
Masters and the Knights of St. John! I shall not be 
content now till I see Rhodes, invested with more 
familiar interest to a clansman of Randolphus de 
Lindesay, Lord David of the Byres, and Sir Walter, 

" Lord of Sainct John, and Knicht of Torphicane, 
By sea and land ane vailzeant Capitane," 

as Davie Lindsay calls him. 



MALTA. 



13 



I visited the armory in the old palace — -neither 
worth seeing; spacious galleries and chambers, but 
nothing after Venice — the library, too, full of the fat 
old folios of the seventeenth century. They seem 
a curious set, these Maltese; their language is most 
dissonant, a mere jargon of Arabic, but all speak broken 
English; their national airs, however, are beautiful, 
especially one, beginning, " Selloom tal harir," &c, 
which you will find in my MS. collection of national 
music ; I have not heard it here, nor indeed anything 
in the way of minstrelsy except " Rule Britannia," 
which they have been chanting most uproariously in 
honour of their new governor, Sir Henry Bouverie. 

Before re-embarking, I paid another visit to St, 
John's, by far the most interesting spot at Malta — for 
this is not the Melita where St. Paul was wrecked. 
One — the last survivor, I believe — of the old knights, 
a countryman too of Bayard and Duguesclin, was 
pointed out to me — a poor, decrepit, feeble old man — 
alas ! alas ! 



Alexandria, Nov. 30. 
We arrived here last Friday, to wit, November the 
25th ; the day was lovely, the sea of a delicate light 
green, the sky exquisitely clear, of a rosy transparent 
hue, smiling our welcome to the city of Cleopatra, as 
we sailed into the harbour — then a glorious oriental 
sunset. There is little or no twilight in these latitudes, 
and it was quite dusk by the time we reached our inn, 
riding on donkeys, the general conveyance in this 
country. 

That was indeed a happy evening! A month's 
cramp in the cabin of a steam-boat exchanged for 
freedom and terra-firma, and that terra-firma Egypt, 
still the land of mystery, still a land of beauty 1 



14 



ALEXANDRIA. 



"'Tis here that the feathery palm-trees rise, 
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies, — M 

and never will palm-trees rustle more melodiously, 
never will the moon and stars twinkle through their 
transparent foliage with more loveliness, never shall I 
enjoy the stillness and repose of an Eastern night with 
more thrilling pleasure, more thorough enjoyment, than 
I did that evening, walking in the pretty little garden 
behind Mrs. Hume's hotel, or resting in an arbour of 
trellis-work under a branching vine, meditating on 
the past and present, and anticipating the future, in 
which (unless it be the mirage) I see many a hundred 
miles of Father Nile, many a lengthening vista of 
temples and colonnades, outstretched before me ; Nature 
and Art beckoning me on, and offering me the fruits of 
knowledge as the reward of my wanderings. There is 
nothing, indeed, new to discover; but are not Vesuvius 
and Naples new to the eye that has never hailed them 
before ? 

We have been riding about ever since our arrival — 
over ruins, and nothing more. A town, half Turkish, 
half Frank, turbans and hats seeming equally at home 
in it; mounds beyond mounds of rubbish stretching 
away to the south, east, and west of it; whole lines of 
ancient streets traceable by the wells, recurring every 
six or seven yards, by which the contiguous houses, 
long since crumbled away, drew water from the vast 
cisterns with which the whole city was undermined ; 
wretched hovels clustered here and there in the suburbs, 
and towering groves of date-trees " scattered at wide 
intervals " over the cheerless solitude — such is the 
present aspect of Alexandria. The Desert has done for 
her what Vesuvius did for Pompeii — buried her so 
completely, that all we see above the present surface 



ALEXANDRIA. 



15 



has been brought to light by excavation ; not quite all 
indeed — Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Needle, both 
misnomers, are still erect, solitary monuments of the 
flight of time, of the youth and decrepitude of Egypt; 
for the Needle stood at Heliopolis, the On of Scripture, 
three thousand years ago, ( 2 ) and the shaft of Pompey's 
Pillar adorned the temple of Serapis and the library of 
the Ptolemies till it was removed to its present site, 
and furnished with a capital and base, in honour of 
Diocletian, whose name Mr. Hamilton was the first to 
decipher, the whole inscription, long supposed to be 
entirely lost, having been recovered, letter by letter, by 
the united acumen of a few wise men of Britain. It is 
only distinguishable in the strong light of the mid-day 
sun. ( 3 ) 

One ruin only, just excavated, and a nondescript, 
will I trouble you with, inasmuch as mine, too probably, 
may be the only record of its discovery, for these Turks 
discover only to destroy. Four or five granite columns 
are still standing on their pedestals of white marble; 
the rest have been removed; and a few Corinthian 
capitals, also of white marble, are lying a short distance 
off, soon probably to be reduced to lime, and applied 
to as vile purposes, comparatively, as that to which 
Hamlet's fancy traced the dust of the royal founder of 
Alexandria himself. Behind these pillars rises a solid 
wall of masonry, supported by three arches, on the 
reverse of which we found vestiges of curious Greek 
paintings, the colours very vivid, and the subject, it 
would appear, taken from Homer, the only figure that 
remained uninjured by the pickaxe being superscribed 



O Aye 



16 



ALEXANDRIA. 



We observed, with surprise, three or four coats of 
stucco laid one over the other, all painted, and the 
lowest the best. It was merely through the chance 
encounter of an Italian monk that we were led, through 
a labyrinth of narrow lanes and groves of date-trees, 
to this interesting spot. 

In Lucas's time, about one hundred and twenty years 
ago, a superb piazza was traceable in the middle of 
the ancient town, ornamented with lofty granite columns, 
and surrounded, to all appearance, by the principal 
palaces of the city, with a beautiful fountain in the 
centre. We saw no traces of it, — in his day the remains 
were almost entirely covered with the sand.( 4 ) 

As for the far-famed library, its site can only be con- 
jectured; the first library w r as attached to the palace of 
the Ptolemies, and was accidentally consumed when 
Julius Caesar was obliged to burn his ships in the 
harbour, to which it was contiguous. We visited 
yesterday some recent excavations, which have laid 
bare the remains of a vast edifice, pronounced by 
antiquaries (I know not on what authority) to be those 
of the second library; but nothing is certain here — not 
even the date of the catacombs, or whom they were 
worked by; some contending they belonged to Alex- 
andria, others, to the insignificant town of Racotis, 
which existed here before the foundation of Alexandria.( 5 ) 
Of their Greek origin there can be no doubt, the 
architecture being uniformly Doric. 

These catacombs are at some distance west of the 
city, and highly interesting. We explored them with 
torches, creeping in many places on our hands and 
knees. Entering from the north, three chambers, 
running westwards, lead you to a large circular room 
to the south of the third, with a dome of beautiful pro- 
portions, and opening, towards the south, east, and 



ALEXANDRIA. 



17 



west, into three small recesses, apparently for sar- 
cophagi. 

Over the door-way we found traces of the orb, or 
globe with wings, that Dr. Clarke mentions, but it has 
been broken off since his time. We saw the same 
emblem, however, (which reminded me of Isaiah's 
address to Ethiopia, ch. xviii, ver. 1,) over both doors 
of the vestibule, that we had entered, and that we pro- 
ceeded by, still westwards ; the plan of the catacombs 
seems modelled on this emblem, for the wings are 
clearly arranged in reference to the central and cir- 
cular shrine. After exploring several other chambers 
in the same direction, all strewed with bones, we 
retraced our steps to the central chamber, and the rest of 
the party went out, while Captain Lacon (an intelligent 
officer who had joined our party) and I remained 
behind to examine more carefully what we had already 
seen. 

The grand entrance clearly opened from the shore, 
and we wished, if possible, to discover it. Creeping 
up the sloping wall, or rather bank, as it ought to be 
called, of the second chamber from the present entrance, 
we found it was only the corner of an immense hall, 
supported by square pillars, that stretched away towards 
the shore, filled up by a long continuous mcund of 
earth, accumulated so close to the roof, that it was 
impossible to proceed except by crawling on one's 
breast like a worm. On we crept, however, with two 
or three of our Arab guides; and the result of a long 
and painful peregrination in this uncomfortable attitude 
Avas, that, following the walls, we fairly traced the three 
sides of the hall, and discovered what probably was the 
grand entrance, opposite, as nearly as we could guess, 
to the circular chamber. 

The sea (probably at the time of the great earth- 

c 



18 



ALEXANDRIA. 



quake, when fifty thousand Alexandrians perished, and 
the islet was washed away to which Mark Antony 
retired to enact Tinion of Athens after the wreck of his 
fortunes) seems to have washed sand and soil into the 
catacombs, and, after filling as we now behold thern, to 
have finally choked up the entrance, so that it is undis- 
coverable from the shore. I do not think we have made 
any new discovery, for the French are said, in one of 
my guide-books, to have made a complete plan of these 
extraordinary excavations; but I am glad we made 
them out so satisfactorily to ourselves. Oh ! that they 
were all cleared out, that one could enter from the 
shore, traverse that noble hall, and enter the shrine, 
just as the votaries did of old, two thousand years 
ago! 

So much for this "City of the Dead!" Living 
Alexandria is equally interesting, though strangely dif- 
ferent; turbaned Turks, wild Arabs, Copts, Armenians, 
Jews — every nation seems to have its representatives 
here ; and the strings of camels towering along, the 
women gliding about in their long veils, with holes 
only for the eyes to peep out at — graceful in their car- 
riage — some carrying their children at their sides,* 
others astride on their shoulders — are objects tho- 
roughly oriental. The Arabs, especially, dressed just 
like the Ishmaelites and Midianites of old, cany one's 
imagination yet further back even than the catacombs — 
far, far into antiquity — to the days of Joseph and the 
patriarchs. 

But it is no use attempting to sketch so varied and 
shifting a scene; though already it be somewhat fami- 
lial to me, my ideas are still all in a whirl. One is 
really bewildered, too, with the crowd of associations, 

* "Thy sons shall come from afar; and thy daughters shall be 
carried at the side." — Isaiah^ lx. 4. 



ALEXANDRIA. 



19 



ancient and modern, this place teems with, independent 
of visible objects ; — Alexander the Great, who intended 
to make it the seat of his empire, and the emporium of 
the world, which indeed it became under the Ptolemies, 
as the link between India and the West — the museum, 
the library, the revival of Greek literature and phi- 
losophy under the enlightened successors of Alexander 
— the version of the Old Testament by the seventy-two 
interpreters, if we may believe the old legend, though 
its falsity cannot affect the historical fact that the Law 
and the Prophets w T ere translated into Greek nearly 
three centuries before our Saviour's birth, and while 
those wonderful prophecies of Daniel about the kings 
of the North and the South, the Ptolemies and Seleu- 
cidse, were actually fulfilling ( 6 ) — Caesar, Cleopatra, 
Antony, and Shakspeare's play — Mark and his ministry, 
the school of Clement and Origen, Athanasius, the 
noble patriarch, and his chequered fortunes during a 
lifetime devoted to the defence of God's truth against 
Arius — Amrou and the Saracens — and lastly, after 
twelve hundred years of silence and decay, Aber- 
crombie, gallant Abercrombie, his Highland hearts 
around him, the cry of victory in his ear, 

" Looking meekly to heaven from his deathbed of fame!" 

— what varied scenes — what opposite characters — what 
warring influences of good and evil ! 

And under whose banner, Oromasdes' or Ahriman's, 
must I rank Mohammed Ali himself, whose ships, 
proud as their mother Alexandria may well be of their 
magnificence, are, like his army, a very curse to the 
country ? * 

* We visited the admiral's ship, a three-decker, on the 28th of 
November. " I had heard much," says Mr. Kamsay, in his private 
Journal, " of these vessels, and was prepared for their magnificence, 



20 



ALEXANDRIA. 



But I must conclude. We start, I hope and believe, 
to-morrow morning, provided we get a boat, but the 
Pasha has impressed all he could lay his hands on, for 
the conveyance of his son's harem, and we may have to 
wait. 

Adieu, my dear mother. 

P. S. — Dec. 1. Think of our scampering off this 
morning on jackasses, (instinctively,) on hearing that 
the harem was about to embark for Cairo ! We had 
about three miles to ride, and when we got near it 
there was nothing to be seen of the ladies, nor could 
we approach the carriages (English and four-in-hand) 
they rode in. We watched them from a distance, and 
after seeing two or three children handed out, followed 
by a veiled lady, whom William pronounced to be 
dreadfully thick-ankled, we turned round and retraced 
our steps at a gentle trot, and have been laughed at for 
our wild-goose chase ever since. We were not, how- 
ever, the only English who joined in it, and were the 
first to retreat — that is some comfort. 

and even for more than I found. The show certainly was very fine 
on the upper, the main, and the lower decks, everything being very 
spacious, clean, polished, and in order ; the breadth of beam, and 
the total freedom from all (I should imagine even necessary) encum- 
brance, gave her a noble appearance; but one missed a great deal; 
there was no accommodation for officers — all are down in the cock- 
' pit, and thus the whole range of the decks is thrown open from poop 
to stern in both decks. The officers seemed to be very poorly off, 
and as this was not a show part of the ship, it stood no comparison 
with the rest. The men not dining, like us, at tables, the lower 
deck was free from that encumbrance, like the main deck. There 
was not the finish which characterizes everything in our ships, or the 
air of aptness and congruity which ought to pervade it. The crew 
are 1100, but a useless set ; every gun requires a marine to stand 
over the men with a musket, and eight small cannon are planted 
abaft to command the ship in case of a mutiny, I suppose.** 



CAIRO. 



21 



LETTER III. 

Voyage to Cairo — Sais — Introduction to the Pasha — Tombs of the 
Mamaluke Sultans — Cairo at sunset — Bazars — Courtesy to Franks 
— Garden of Roda — Old Cairo — Cemetery of the Mamaluke 
Beys — School at Boulac — Printing-press — Egyptian Christians — 
Jews — Magicians, Jugglers, &c. 

December 17, 1836. 
Here, my dear mother, in Grand Cairo, we have been 
settled for more than a week, delighted with all we have 
seen, and fully prepared to enjoy ourselves during the 
remainder of our trip. We reached Cairo from Alex- 
andria on the sixth day, the wind having been contrary 
during the first two or three of the voyage ; we sailed 
on the Mahmoudieh canal* to Atfi in the course of a 
night, and there embarked on the Nile in one of the 
cangias, or boats of the country, which hold two con- 
veniently enough, ilissirie and Abdallah, a handsome 
Kordofani — black as ebony — whom we have engaged 
as Arab interpreter and aide-de-camp extraordinary, 

* " In the greatness and the cruelty of its accomplishment, this 
canal may vie with the gigantic labours of the Pharaohs. Two 
hundred and fifty thousand people, men, women, and children, were 
swept from the villages of the Delta, and heaped like a ridge along 
the destined banks of that fatal canal. They had only provisions for 
one month, and implements they had few or none ; but the Pasha's 
command was urgent — the men worked with all the energy of 
despair, and stabbed into the ground as if it was their enemy; 
children carried away the soil in little handfuls ; nursing mothers 
laid their infants on the shelterless banks ; the scourge kept them to 
the work, and mingled blood with their milk, if they attempted to 
nourish their offspring. Famine soon made its appearance, and they 
say it was a fearful sight, to see that great multitude convulsively 
working against time. As a dying horse bites the ground in his 
agony, they tore up that great grave — twenty -five thousand people 
perished, but the grim contract was completed, and in six weeks the 
waters of the Nile were led to Alexandria." — WarburtoiCs Crescent 
and the Cross, torn, i, p. 52. [1847.] 



22 CAIRO. 

occupied a tent in front of the cabin, and altogether we 
got on very comfortably. 

The only place of interest on the western branch of 
ihe Nile is Sa-el-Hagiar, the site of the ancient Sais, 
from whence the worship of Nith, or Minerva, was 
earned to Athens by Cecrops and his Egyptian colony, 
sixteen centuries before the Christian era. There she 
stood, the idol of Egyptian worship, veiled with her 
mysterious peplus, carried for ages afterwards, though in 
ignorance of its mystic meaning, in the sacred proces- 
sions of Athens, and uttering those thrilling words of 
wisdom, that text for human vanity to meditate on— 
" I am all that is, all that hath been, and all that will 
be ; and my veil no mortal hath ever yet upraised f" 

Long before arriving at Cairo, we saw the Pyramids 
towering in the distance like mountains cut down into 
their present shape ; we have not yet visited them ; 
Monday next will, I hope, dawn on our departure for 
that purpose. Caviglia, the famous Italian, who rivals 
Belzoni in enterprise and success, breakfasted with us 
this morning; he is certainly a very extraordinary 
man; there is an account of his researches in an article 
of the Quarterly, furnished some years ago by Mr. Salt, 
very interesting, and well worth your perusal. 

But I have had other visitors of no less celebrity— 
Linant, the French artist, who accompanied Laborde 
to Petra, and who discovered the ruined capital of 
Meroe; Gobat, too, the Abyssinian missionary — Mr. 
Lieder the resident missionary at Cairo, introduced him 
to me — a tall majestic figure, benevolent countenance, 
long beard, and in the Turkish dress ; I had a long and 
interesting conversation with him. 

We have received the kindest attentions from every 
one. Colonel Campbell, our Cousul-general, has 
procured us everything we could desire in the way of 
passports, firmans, &c. He introduced us to the Pasha 



CAIRO. 



23 



a few evenings ago ; as it is now Ramadan, (the Turkish 
Lent, during which they fast all day and feast all night, ) 
he receives after sunset. We visited the old spider in 
his den, the citadel, where he ensnared and murdered 
the Mamalukes. Ascending a broad marble passage 
on an inclined plane, (the substitute for a staircase.) 
and traversing a lofty antechamber crowded with 
attendants, we found ourselves in the presence-chamber, 
a noble saloon, richly ornamented, but without an 
article of furniture except a broad divan, or sofa, ex- 
tending round the three sides of the room, in one 
corner of which squatted his highness Mohammed AIL 
Six wax-candles, ten feet high, stood in a row in the 
centre of the hall, yet gave but little light. ( 7 ) 

About half an hour's conversation ensued between 
Colonel Campbell and the Pasha, chiefly statistical, and 
interesting as showing his singular and intimate know- 
ledge, extending to the minutest details, of everything 
going on in his dominions.* He does, in fact, every 
thing himself; he has made a great deal of Egypt, 

* " TTe walked straight into the Divan chamber without being 
announced, or any ceremony whatever. The renowned Mohammed 
Ali was squatting in one corner of the room, smoking a most 
superb pipe, clustered with whole handfuls of diamonds ; we all, 
after bowing, sat down on each side of him. Coffee was brought to 
each in the small cups like egg-cups, in beautiful filagree stands, 
universally used in the East : a pipe is never given but to a peer 
He sent for his interpreter, and Colonel Campbell sustained the con- 
versation for three quarters of an hour nearly. The Pasha spoke 
most practically and statistically of all his manufactures and under- 
takings : entered into all the details of ship-building, and the merits 
of particular woods ; told us of some extraordinary instance of his 
lenient rule in the case of a village which he had pardoned its con- 
tributions ; informed us he had exported 42o,000 quintals of cotton 
last year, and so on. 

44 He did not address any of his guests, but I observed his sharp 
cunning eye fixing itself on every one. The light was not strong 
enough to remark minutely, but I can agree with former travellers 
as to the vivid expression of his eye, and, for the rest, under a huge 



24 



MOHAMMED ALT. 



considered as his private property, but at the expense 
of the people, who are fewer in number, and those few 
far more miserable than they were before his time. 

And how could it be otherwise?* He " has drained 
the country of all the working men. He presses them 
as sailors, soldiers, workmen, &c, and nobody can be 
sure of his own security for a day. His system appears 
to be infamous, and the change which has taken place 
in the general appearance of the country within a few 
years is said to be extraordinary. Everywhere the 
land is falling out of cultivation, villages are deserted, 
houses falling to ruin, and the people disappearing. 

" He taxes all the means of industry and of its 
improvement, and then taxes the product. Irrigation 
is the great means of cultivation and fertility; he 
therefore charges fifteen dollars tax upon every Persian 
wheel; and as the people can find a way of avoiding 
it by manual labour, raising the water in a very curious 
way by the pole and bucket, he lays a tax of seven 
dollars and a half even on that simple contrivance. 

" He then, in the character of universal land-pro- 
prietor in his dominions, orders what crop shall be sown, 
herein consulting his own interest solely, in direct 
opposition to that of his people. He settles the price 
of the crop, at which the cultivator is obliged to sell it 
to him, for he can sell it to no one else ; and if he 
wishes to keep any himself, he is obliged to buy it back 

tarboosh and immense white beard and mustachioes, it is absurd to 
talk of, or to have any clear idea of the expression of his face : but 
an expression I have read somewhere, 'his cold heartless laugh,' 
came suddenly into my head when I heard hira laugh : it sounded 
hard, cold, and pleasureless, end enough to make any one freeze 
whose head was at his mercy." — Mr. Ramsay s Journal. 

* The following observations on the present state of Egypt are 
extracted from Mr. liamsay's Journal; I have substituted them for 
my own, which were nearly to the same effect, though shorter and 
less interesting. 



CAIRO. 



25 



from government at the new rate which the Pasha has 
fixed for its sale, of course many per cents dearer 
than when he bought it. Numberless are his little tricks 
for saving money; e. g. when he has to receive money, 
it has always to be paid in advance; taxes, particularly, 
he collects always just before the plague breaks out, so 
that, though the people die, he has their money; in 
paying the troops and others, it is vice versa, — he pays 
after date, and gains also upon the deaths. 

" We have heard much at home of the reforming 
enlightened spirit of Mohammed Ali, but what is it 
founded on? It looks more like a great and sudden 
blaze before the whole is extinguished and falls into 
total darkness ; and whether this is to happen at his 
death or before, seems the only question ; it seems not 
far distant. Last year he had no money (and he pushed 
hard for it) to pay his troops and dependents, and this 
year he will have no more than he had last. 

" He has forced the riches of the country prematurely, 
and to an extent they could not bear, at the same time 
removing the means of their reproduction, and thus he 
has procured the present means of prosecuting the 
really wonderful, and what in other circumstances would 
have been the useful and beneficial improvements and 
institutions which we have heard so much of, and which 
certainly strike a traveller much. 

" It is to the unprincipled roguery and ignorance of 
his European advisers and officials that most of this 
waste and expense is to be charged. His counsellors 
consist of all the needy emigrants from France and 
Italy, who are scouted or in bad odour at home, and 
who have the assurance to pretend to be what they are 
not here, where detection is difficult, and where success 
is their fortune for life. Ideas of the most extravagant 
kind, such as that of damming up the Nile, and others 
on which he has thrown away many hundred thousands 



26 



MOHAMMED ALT. 



of pounds, have been put into his head by these spe- 
culating adventurers, who fill their own pockets by it, 
and thus prey upon the country. 

"A man who has received the education of a scribe 
or clerk, comes out, talks of cotton-growing, and soon 
rises to the head of the cotton department ; another, 
who has thought of nothing but trade and manufacturing 
is put into the engineering office ; and thus everything 
is mismanaged. The English are no longer employed 
in his service; he has found them too hard to deal with, 
too honourable and straightforward, not supple and 
promising enough. Mr, Hill is the only one here who 
understands engineering, and is now dismissed from 
his service. A steam-engine has been sent out ; three 
years have passed, and its undertaker cannot put it up, 
though constantly at work. Mr. Hill has offered to do 
it in a week, but his offer is not allowed to reach the 
Pasha's ear." 

But enough of this — the prospect is very cheerless. 

Mr. Hill, by the way, is our landlord, and a very 
clever, ingenious, obliging man he is. With English 
hotels at Alexandria and Cairo, and floating palaces at 
command for navigating the Nile, what is there to pre- 
vent our English ladies and their beaux from wintering 
at Thebes, as they have hitherto done at Paris and 
Rome? An hotel in the city of Sesostris would in that 
case prove a most profitable speculation. 

One word more, however, about Mohammed Ali :— 
Few in England seem to be aware how vast his 
dominions really are; nominally the Pasha of Egypt, 
he is supreme in Nubia, Dongola, Senna ar, to the 
borders of Abyssinia ; the Hedjaz, the Peninsula of 
Mount Sinai, Palestine and Syria, and Asia Minor south 
of Mount Taurus, pay him tribute and obey him : and 
even the desert-dwellers as far as Palmyra stand in awe 



CAIRO. 



27 



and respect him. But it is not mere extent of dominion 
that gives an abiding niche in the temple of history; 
he sits on the throne of Zenobia. but who will remem- 
ber his name a hundred years hence? 



So here we are at Cairo, the city of Victory — 
daughter of the Fatimites and the bride of Saladin — 
the Tyre of Saracen commerce, and of The Thousand 
and One Nights at that later era when Arab chivalry 
had burnt out, and the children of Antar had ceased to 
be gentlemen.* Viewed from any of the neighbouring 
eminences, she is still Grand Cairo, but the narrowness 
of the streets, a perfect labyrinth of alleys, and the gene- 
ral air of decay, forbid one's application of the epithet 
to the interior of the city.f ( s ) Saladin sleeps at 
Damascus, and his house survived him but a few brief 
generations ; a race of slaves succeeded them, Circas- 
sian slaves, raised successively from bondage to the 
throne of this " basest of kingdoms," for two hundred 
and thirty years previous to 1517, when Selim, the 
Grand Turk, conquered it. Their cemetery is one of 
the most interesting sights at Cairo. 

* There are three stages, or periods in Arabian history and man- 
ners — the heroic, preceding the Hegira — the chivalric, which suc- 
ceeded it — and the mercantile, of the later Caliphate ; the former 
represented by the romance of Antar, the second by that of Habib, 
and the last by the Arabian Nights, [1847.] 

f " In the streets where there are no shops, the buildings are still 
closer; in fact, the second stories are almost always quite joined; 
the little projecting window's of the houses opposite fit into each 
other, and the sky is only at glimpses visible from below. They give 
one more the idea of private passages in a house, till you are unde- 
ceived by meeting people on horseback, and by their interminable 
extent and labyrinthie properties. Many are not much above a yard 
wide, few more than six or eight feet. They have the merit of cool- 
ness at least." — Mr. Ramsay s Journal. 



28 



TOMBS OF THE SULTANS. 



Crossing a mile or so of the Desert, you come in 
sight of a city of tombs and mosques, — the most splen- 
did domes, pillars of the most exquisite Saracenic 
architecture,* and minarets the lightest and airiest 
imaginable, rising from the desert, lite an oriental 
Venice, to greet you; I never saw anything more lovely 
than this City of the Dead — the evening sun shining 
brightly and cheerfully down its silent avenues. On a 
nearer approach you find with sorrow that they are 
already crumbling with decay; the muezzin has long 
ceased his summons to prayer, and a few miserable 
Arabs are the only human tenants of their lofty courts 
and chambers. 

After riding through the wide extent of the tombs, 
we climbed up to the top of the sandhills which sepa- 
rate the lonely sepulchral plain from the city of Cairo. 
It was a scene for Mirza to dream of — an hour for 
years to look back upon! — the sun setting behind the 
Pyramids — the Nile, that once flowed blood, winding 
between the two deserts that are ever striving to rob 
him of the rich verdure that edges his channel — Cairo, 
with her thousand minarets, rising over the thin curling 
smoke — and the busy hum of men, that denotes how 
densely peopled she still is, murmuring from below, — 
and then to turn round and look down on the hollow 
and silent valley of the dead sultans, already lost to the 
sun's rays, still and lifeless, except a string of camels 
winding among the tombs — 'twas a strange contrast! 
The sun sank, sank, sank, and at last disappeared, 
while we still stood there watching the Pyramids 
piercing the glowing sky, and listening for the Muezzin ; 

* 44 In many of these tombs there are the same light pillared 
arcades as in the churches of Pisa and its neighbourhood" — the later 
Lombard architecture. — Original Journal. [1847.] 



CAIRO AT SUNSET. 



29 



at last a cannon from the citadel announced the sun's 
total disappearance, and then first one, then every 
minaret " found a tongue," answering each other in the 
self-same words, " God is great ! There is no God but 
God, and Mahomet is his prophet !" 

The crescent moon brightened oyer us as the night 
fell, and, pondering on the past and the present, we 
rode slowly homewards through the motley crowds 
with which this strange city is peopled, all eagerly 
preparing for their evening meal. 

We are now tolerably familiar with oriental objects ; 
but the first three or four walks we took through the 
bazars were like a visit to another world, familiar to the 
imagination, but passing strange when first realized by 
the eyes ; portly duennas, veiled from head to foot, 
waddling along, followed by their slaves — harems 
taking the ah' on donkey -back, escorted by their black 
eunuchs, the most consummate puppies in Cairo — Arabs 
on their dromedaries — richly-drest Bedouin Sheikhs on 
their prancing steeds — Turks with their long pipes and 
ataghans — w T ater-carriers, buffaloes, half-naked San- 
tons, ( 9 ) or religious fanatics, singing and rocking 
backwards and forwards — criers perambulating the 
bazars with objects of curiosity to dispose of — the small 
shops on either side the street, their owners sitting 
cross-legged and smoking, — everything reminded us of 
the Arabian Nights and Haroun Al-Raschid. 

In one respect, however, a great and a happy change 
has taken place ; the insults Christians were formerly 
subject to are now unknown. Whatever be one's 
opinion of the Pasha's domestic policy, travellers owe 
him much — for throughout his dominions (in Egypt 
and Syria at least) they may travel in the Frank dress 
with perfect safety. What would old Sandys or Lith- 
gow have said, had any one prophesied in their days 



30 



RODA. 



that two Britons would, in 1836, walk openly through 
Cairo, preceded by a native servant clearing the road 
before them by gentle hints indiscriminately adminis- 
tered to donkeys and Moslemin, to get out of the 
Giaours' way ? ( 10 ) 

The Turks are perfect gentlemen, and never stare — 
a marvel and a mystery to me, for we must cut uncouth 
figures in our tight European garments. But we have 
made up our minds in no case and nowhere to discard 
our national dress as if we were ashamed of it, — though 
t think we well may be so. 

None, I fear, are likely to be permanent of the few 
real improvements the Pasha has introduced here. His 
trees only are likely to survive him ; he has planted 
two hundred thousand olives in the neighbourhood 
of Cairo, and expects that in a few years they will 
pay him yearly a dollar per tree. We rode through 
this plantation a few days ago, and were delighted with 
it, but far more so with the gardens his son Ibrahim 
Pasha has planted in the island of Roda, which you 
reach after traversing the olive grounds. They are 
managed by two Scotsmen, at least of Scottish descent, 
and do them great credit. I longed for you and dear 
Anne; it is indeed a lovely spot; one walk, with bor- 
ders of myrtle, particularly charmed me, leading, be- 
tween rows of orange-trees in full bearing, to a fountain 
surrounded by cypress and lignumvitse trees. Rosemary 
edges the walks like box in England, and roses bloom 
in profusion ; gorgeous butterflies, " winged flowers/' 
as some one prettily calls them, were flitting about in 
every direction, and some strange plant or other, the 
banana, prickly pear, the beautiful acacia speciosa, or 
the date-tree w T ith its graceful head-gear, constantly 
reminded us of the East. 

Little canals for irrigation a.re conducted all over the 



GARDEN OF ROD A. 



31 



garden, some of them of hewn stone, others merely dug 
in the earth, and the water is transferred from one into 
the other by opening or damming it with the foot, as 
in Moses' time. The under-gardeners, in their gay 
oriental dress, were in perfect keeping with the flowery 
landscape, but they w T ere Greeks^ alas! sighing for 
their own dear isle of Scio ! 

Mr. Traill, who had the kindness to accompany us 
all through the garden, showed us several foreign plants 
he is attempting to naturalize, — the india-rubber tree, 
the sago palm, and one diminutive oakling— I wish it 
may answer; it will do his heart good to look at it — 

" Sae far frae hame in a strange countrie !" * (") 

On this island of Roda stands the Nilometer, a gra- 
duated octagon pillar, on which the rise of the river is 
marked during the inundation ; we visited it, but it is 
scarcely worth seeing. I believe one cannot depend 
on the government reports of the rise of the Nile ; his 
highness reports the height he chooses it to be, and if 
he is in want of money, the inundation is sure to be 
the right height. 

Recrossing to Old Cairo, we proceeded over mounds 
of rubbish (the ruins of the Egyptian Babylon) to the 
Coptic Convent, and thence to the tombs of the Mama- 
luke Beys, far inferior in point of grandeur to those of 
the Sultans, but still many of them very elegant, and 
the tout ensemble a most impressive sight. Here — a 
curious situation for him to have selected — Mohammed 

* " Mr. Traill showed us a sarcophagus, which he had converted 
into a prison of state ; instead of the bastinado, he put any refractory 
workman into it, and slued the heavy top round over him, keeping 
him there sometimes for two or three days. Its effects, he assured 
me, were wonderful." — Mr. Ramsay's Journal. 



32 



COLLEGE AT BOULAC- 



Ali has erected a grand tomb for himself and his family, 
of coarse workmanship, bat it contains spacious halls 
with lofty domes, and the monuments are already very 
numerous; all bear inscriptions in letters of gold, and 
the floors are richly carpeted. 

Re-entering Cairo, we remarked an aloe planted over 
the door of a new house — a custom, I am told, con- 
stantly observed here : what can be its origin? 

Two or three days ago we visited the college or 
school Mohammed Ali has founded at Boulac; give 
him his due, — this is an improvement he deserves much 
credit for ; there are separate rooms for each of the six 
classes, all airy, and opening on broad spacious gal- 
leries. Being Ramadan, the boys were enjoying their 
holidays, but in one of the rooms I found an " awkward 
squad" of voluntary "saps," gathered round aboard, 
on which the tutor was working a sum in Arabic nume- 
rals. One or two of the lads were pointed out to me 
as being very clever, but, in general, the difficulty with 
the Arabs is to fix their attention. They are a lively, 
good-humoured people, and with kindness you may 
get them to do anything they are up to. 

We visited the Pasha's printing establishment, also 
at Boulac, the same day ; the workmen seemed very 
active and well acquainted with their business. We 
saw several works in progress, the presswork, paper, 
&c, neater than the ordinary run of books printed in 
Germany or Italy — the types are English; they litho- 
graph also.* I shall send home a specimen or two of 

* " At Boulac saw the Polytechnic School, formerly Ismael 
Pasha's Palace, a splendid establishment. The boys are neatly 
enough dressed, and, except the tarboosh and slippers, might pass 
for Europeans. They appeared, seme of them that we saw, very 
quick and intelligent, and I am told that their examination surpasses 
most such in England in outward show, but it is all head-know- 



PRINTING PRESS. 



33 



Egyptian typography, the Arabian Nights for instance. 
There is at present a quarrel, something like that be- 
tween the stomach and the members, between the print- 
ing-office and the magazine, and, till it is settled, which 
cannot be till after Ramadan, no books can be pur- 
chased. 

Perhaps the most useful work the Pasha has pub- 
lished is an Atlas in Arabic, copied from one the mis- 
sionaries have executed at Malta. It is forbidden to 
print the Koran, or even to sell it to a Christian ; I 
have procured, however, through the kind mediation of 
my friend, Mr. Lieder, a most beautiful manuscript 
(once a vizier's) of that holy volume, richly illuminated 
with gold and colours in the Arabesque style of our old 
missals — a style, indeed, imported from the East by 
Rome, and which, though condemned by the classic taste 
of Vitruvius, Raphael thought not unworthy of revival. 

Missionary exertions throughout the Levant are 
chiefly directed to the conversion (as it may be called) 
of the native Christians, as a step to that of the Mos- 
lems. This they attempt to effect by schools for the 
young, and the circulation of the Scriptures in the 
native dialects among those of more advanced years. 
Mr. Lieder is the amiable and zealous promoter of the 
good cause in Egypt, now, as in every age, emphati- 

ledge. They apply to algebra and abstruse mathematics. Their 
benches, slates, &c, were quite European. The printing press we 
also saw, and were much pleased. They print a paper every week, 
and we saw several books in hand; the Arabian Nights is just 
finished; the impressions are, some of them, beautiful. One vener- 
able savant, with spectacle on nose, appeared to be inspecting and 
deeply immersed in some old chronicle ; such an individual is much 
more striking and characteristic- looking in the handsome Turkish 
dress he wore, with a reverend beard, than any dapper old Euro- 
pean in a snuffy brown coat out at the elbows, and glorying in 
unbrushed classic dust." — Mr. Ramsay's Journal. 

D 



34 



EGYPTIAN MAGICIAN. 



cally a house of bondage; spiritual darkness, fore- 
shadowed, one might almost think, by the three days' 
gloom of Moses, broods over the land ; the Christians 
seem to differ little from the heathen; indeed their 
character is, generally speaking, so bad as materially 
to impede the progress of the truth among the Maho- 
metans.* 

There are many Arab Christians, besides the Copts 
and Armenians, all of whom rank nominally as such. 
The Copts, the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, 
are by far the cleverest of the modern natives, and the 
business of the country is, for the most part, in their 
hands. Boghaz Bey, the Pasha's right-hand man, is 
an Armenian, but I do not believe there are many of 
his sleek and comely, honest, plodding countrymen 
here. The Jews are numerous — the same in appear- 
ance and character as elsewhere — scorned alike by 
Turk and Christian,— 

" Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, 
When will ye flee away, and be at rest !" 

You will easily gather from what I have said, that I 
think there is no hope for Egypt — at least at present. 
There is a gleam in the sky, as if the light of civilization 
were about to rise, but like the false dawn in India, it 
will fade away, and deeper darkness will succeed. Yet 
the true dawn will come at last, and brighten into 
perfect day, and then, and not till then, will Egypt, 
Christian Egypt, rise from the dust, and resume her 
seat among the nations. 



Do you remember the strange story Miss H— — 
told us of the Egyptian magician ? I have had him 
twice here, — that is to say, the gentlemen at the inn 

* Mr. Lieder is still at his post, and active as ever. [1847.] 



EGYPTIAN MAGICIAN. 



35 



had him the first time, and as I was not satisfied with 
his performance, and he hardly got fair play among us, 
I had him a second time to myself, wishing to give him 
a fair trial. I am not yet satisfied; he succeeded in 
the first person we called for, but failed egregiously 
in the others. 

The first night we all assembled in the salle a manger 
of the hotel, and the wizard being introduced, we seated 
him on the divan, furnished him with a pipe, and then 
proceeded to question him as to his power, &c. He 
said he was from Algiers, (quaere of the family of 
Sycorax, Caliban's mother ?) — and that he belonged to 
a tribe or caste who are ruled by sheikhs or chiefs, and 
call themselves servants of Solomon. We asked him 
whether he worked by Allah or by Satan ; he gave me 
a Scotch answer the first day, " Does not Satan come 
from Allah?" but the following evening affirmed it was 
by Allah. 

I asked him whether he understood the words he 
used, which are not Arabic ; at least one of my friends 
here, who speaks the language, could make nothing of 
them. He said Yes ; and, in answer to my further 
inquiries, repeated thirteen words or names, which, he 
said, were all a man needed the knowledge of, to obtain 
the same power as himself; — you must learn them by 
heart, (he is willing to teach any one " for a considera- 
tion,") then for seven days make a fire seven times 
every day, throw incense on it, and walk round the fire 
seven times, pronouncing seven times the thirteen 
names, — then go to sleep, and you will awake with the 
faculty required. A complicated receipt this ! 

The magician, meanwhile, was writing several lines 
in Arabic on a piece of paper, which he afterwards tore 
into seven pieces, each containing a distich. A boy 



36 



EGYPTIAN MAGICIAN. 



having been procured, (for a child only can receive the 
power of magical vision,) he drew a double-lined square, 
with strange marks in the angles, on his hand, put 
some ink on the palm, and bade him look into it and 
tell us what he saw. 

A chafing-dish having now been brought in, the 
wizard, his beads in his hand, began mumbling prayers 
or invocations, the same words, I believe, over and over 
again, at first in a loud voice, then gradually sinking 
till they were quite inaudible, (like a top falling asleep,) 
though his lips continued moving apace. From time 
to time he placed incense and one of the torn scraps of 
paper on the fire, frequently interrupting his incanta- 
tion to ask the boy whether he saw anything, to which 
he as frequently replied in the negative: at last he said, 
" I saw something flit by quickly ;" but nothing more 
came, and the wizard said we must procure another 
boy, which we did. 

The same ceremonies having been repeated, a man 
made his appearance, and, at the word of command, 
began sweeping; then he bade the boy call for seven 
flags in succession, all of which made their appearance, 
and, last of all, the Sultan, whom he described as seated 
on his divan, drinking coffee. " Now," said the magi- 
cian, " the charm is complete, and you may call for 
any one you like." 

The first person we summoned was the Rev. — — 

, a mutual friend of William's and mine, and the 

first person who told him of these magicians ; he was 
described, upon the whole, accurately, but this was the 
only successful summons; the spirits either would not 
come, or appeared by proxy, to the sad discomposure 
of our Arab Glendower, who, it is but fair to state, 
attributed the failure to its being Ramadan. 

I tried him with Daniel Lambert, who, I was in- 



JUGGLERS. 



37 



formed, was a thin man, and with Miss Biffin, who 
made her appearance with arms and legs. He has 
been equally unsuccessful with a party of Americans, 
— this is odd enough, when one considers how strongly 
Mr. Salt, Lord Prudhoe, and Major Felix, who sub- 
jected him to long and repeated examinations, were 
impressed with the belief of his supernatural powers. 

One thing is unquestionable — that the children do 
see a crowd of objects following each other — and, at 
the commencement of the incantation, the very same 
objects, as vivid and distinct as if they looked out of the 
window at noonday. How is this to be accounted for? 
I cannot answer the question. ( 12 ) 

We have seen the jugglers ; they show great dexte- 
rity in sticking daggers into their eyes, necks, hearts, 
&c, running long bodkins up their noses, sheathing 
swords in their stomachs, the skin lapping quite over 
them (indeed their skins seem to hang quite loose on 
their bodies), and, lastly, applying burning torches to 
their naked breasts ; upon the whole, a disagreeable 
exhibition, not worth seeing. 

The psylli, or serpent-charmers, were not to be found 
when we sent for them; many believe in their preten- 
sions ; my friend Mr. Lieder told me they charmed a 
poisonous snake out of his house, which he himself 
had seen the day before, but failed to kill, besides two 
others which they might have introduced. They never 
pronounce the name of God Allah, but Pullah. 

Both psylli and magicians seem to have been known 
among the Jews; " the deaf adder that shutteth her 
ears" is proverbial, and " the stone of imagination — 
that is, certain smooth images, in which, by art magic, 
pictures and little faces were represented, declaring 
hidden things and stolen goods," mentioned by Jeremy 



38 



PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 



Taylor, on the authority, I suppose, of some rabbinical 
comment on Leviticus, was evidently kindred sorcery 
to that practised in Egypt. 

Our boat is ready, and to-morrow, December 21st, 
we start for Upper Egypt. We returned from the 
Pyramids to-day. I have written Anne an account of 
our visit, which I inclose to you ; read and forward it. 

Adieu. 



LETTER IV. 

Visit to the Pyramid of Cheops — Evening with Caviglia — Pyramids 
of Cephrenes and Mycerinus — Arab traditions respecting the 
Pyramids — The Sphinx, a talisman- — Heliopolis — the Pyramids 
probably built by the Pali, or Shepherd-Kings of Egypt, after- 
wards the Philistines, in the time of Abraham. 

TO MRS. JAMES LINDSAY. 

Top of Cheops' Pyramid, Dec. 19, 1836. 

Did you ever expect, my dear Anne, to receive a letter 
from the top of the Great Pyramid ? Here I am, and 
William at my side, a burning sun above us, and four half- 
naked Arabs chattering around us, greatly marvelling, 
doubtless, at the magical propensities of the English. 
It is a fatiguing business climbing up, but, once here, 
all is repaid ! Such a view ! the desert on one side, 
stretching away into Libya — waves beyond waves, as 
far as the eye can reach; the vale of Egypt on the other, 
green as if Hope had chosen it as her peculiar home, 
with a thousand little canals traversing it in every direc- 
tion, left by the retiring Nile, for the inundation has 
scarcely yet subsided. 

Caviglia is working here, and we are now his guests. 
He has palisadoed off a little citadel for himself, the 



PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 



39 



chambers consisting of tombs excavated in the rock on 
which the Pyramids are built. After our descent, he is 
going to cicerone us through this monument of pride, 
science, or superstition — who knows which ? It was \ 
building while Abraham was in Egypt ; Joseph and his 
brethren must have seen the sun set behind it every 
day they sojourned in Egypt; it must have been the 
last object Moses and the departing Israelites lost sight 
of as they quitted the land of bondage ; Pythagoras, 
Herodotus, Alexander, the Caliphs — it has been the 
goal of nations ! lost nations have pilgrimized to its 
foot, and looked up, as their common ancestors did 
before them, in awe and humility, — and now, two 
strangers, from the u ultima Thule" of the ancients, 
Britain, severed from the whole world by a watery line 
which they considered it impious to transgress, stand 
here on the summit, and, looking round, see a desert 
where once the " cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous pa- 
laces," the temples and tombs of Memphis, arose in their 
calm beauty, and Wisdom dwelt among the groves of 
palm and acacia — solitary now and deserted, except by 
the wandering iirab and his camel. 

Midnight. Caviglia's Tomb. 

After dining with Caviglia, dear Anne, to continue my 
yarn, we started by moonlight for the Pyramid, in com- 
pany with the Genius Loci, and duly provided with 
candles for exploration. I must premise that Caviglia, 
whose extraordinary discoveries you are doubtless well 
acquainted with, has just been set to work again by 
Colonel Vyse, Mr. Sloane, and Colonel Campbell, our 
Consul-general at Cairo. He is at present attempting 
to make further discoveries in the Great Pyramid, and, 
as soon as he gets a firman froni the Pasha, intends to 
attack the others. 



40 



PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 



The shape of this Pyramid has been compared to 
"four equilateral triangles, on a square basis, mutually 
inclining towards each other till they meet in a point,"* 
while " Lincoln's-Inn Fields, the area of which cor- 
responds to its base, wholly filled up with an edifice 
higher by a third than St. Paul's, may give some idea 
of its dimensions. "f 

The entrance is on the northern face of the Pyramid, 
on the sixteenth step, though you can ride up to it, 
such immense mounds of fallen stones have accumulated 
at the base. A long low passage, most beautifully cut 
and polished, runs downwards, above 260 feet, at an 
angle of 27 degrees, to a large hall, sixty feet long, 
directly under the centre of the Pyramid, cut out of the 
rock, and never, it would appear, finished. This was 
discovered by Caviglia ; the passage, before his time, 
was supposed to end half way down, ( 13 ) being blocked 
up with stones at the point where another passage meets 
it, running upwards at the same angle of 27, and by 
which you might mount in a direct line to the grand 
gallery, and from that to the king's chamber, where 
stands the sarcophagus, nearly in the centre of the pile, 
were it not for three or four blocks of granite that have 
been slid down from above, in order to stop it up. 

By climbing through a passage, forced, it is supposed, 
by the Caliph Mamoun, you wind round these blocks 
of granite into the passage, so that, with the exception 
of ten or twelve feet, you do in fact follow the original 
line of ascent ; we Ascended by it. Close to the open- 
ing of this passage on the grand gallery is the mouth of 
a well, or shaft, about 200 feet deep, by which we 

* Greaves, Pyramidographia, ap. Churchill's Collection of Voy- 
ages and Travels, vol. ii. 

t Conder, Modern Traveller — Egypt. 



PYRAMID OF CHEOPS, 



41 



ascended from the neighbourhood of the great lower 
hall. Two or three persons had descended it before 
Caviglia's time, but he cleared it out to the full depth 
that his predecessors had reached, and believing it went 
still deeper, hearing a hollow sound as he stamped on 
the bottom, he attempted to excavate there, but was 
obliged to desist on account of the excessive heat, which 
neither he nor the Arabs could stand. 

Think, then, what his delight must have been, when, 
in the course of clearing the passage, which, as I men- 
tioned to you, leads directly from the entrance to the 
great lower hall, smelling a strong scent of sulphur, and 
remembering he had burnt some in the well to purify 
the air, he dug in that direction, and found a passage 
leading right into the bottom of the well, where the 
ropes, pickaxes, &c. &c, were lying that he had left 
there in despair, on abandoning the idea of further ex- 
cavation in that direction as hopeless ! 

Up this well, as I said, we climbed, holding a rope, 
and fixing our feet in holes cut in the stone ; the upper 
part of the ascent was very difficult, and bats in num- 
bers came tumbling down on us ; but at last we landed 
safely in the grand gallery, a noble nondescript of an 
apartment, very lofty, narrowing towards the roof, and 
most beautifully chiselled ; it ends towards the south, 
in a staircase — if I may so term an inclined plane, with 
notches cut in the surface for the feet to hold by ; the 
ascent is perilous, the stone being as polished and slip- 
pery as glass ; before ascending, however, we proceeded 
by another beautifully worked passage, cut directly 
under the staircase, to a handsome room, called the 
queen's chamber. Returning to the gallery, we mounted 
the inclined plane to the king's chamber, directly over 
the queen's. The passage leading to it was defended 
by a portcullis, now destroyed, but you see the grooves 



42 



CAVIGLIA. 



it fell into. His majesty's chamber is a noble apart- 
ment, eased with enormous slabs of granite, twenty feet 
high ; nine similar ones (seven large and two half-sized) 
form the ceiling. ( u ) 

At the west end stands the sarcophagus, which rings, 
when struct, like a bell. From the north and south 
sides, respectively, of this room, branch two small ob- 
long square passages, like air-holes, cut through the 
granite slabs, and slanting upwards, the first for eighty 
feet in a zigzag direction, the other for one hundred and 
twenty. 

It is Caviglia' s present object to discover whither 
these lead. Being unable to pierce the granite, he has 
begun cutting sideways into the limestone, at the point 
where the granite casing of the chamber ends ; he has 
reached the northern passage at the point where it is 
continued through the limestone, and is cutting a large 
one below it, so that the former runs like a groove in 
the roof of the latter, and he has only to follow it as a 
guide, and cut away till he reaches the denouement.— 
" Now," said Caviglia, " I will show you how I hope to 
find out where the northern passage leads to." 

Returning to the landing-place at the top of the 
grand staircase, we mounted a rickety ladder to the 
narrow passage that leads to Davison's chamber, so 
named after the English consul at Algiers, who disco- 
vered it seventy years ago ; it is directly above the king's 
chamber, the ceiling of the one forming, it would ap- 
pear, the floor of the other. The ceiling of Davison's 
chamber consists of eight stones, beautifully worked, 
and this ceiling, which is so low that you can only sit 
cross-legged under it, Caviglia believes to be the floor 
of another large room above it, which he is now r trying 
to discover. To this room he concludes the little pas- 
sage leads, that branches from the south side of the 



PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 



43 



king's chamber. He has accordingly dug down into 
the calcareous stone at the further end of Davison's 
chamber, in hopes of meeting it : once found, it will 
probably lead him to the place he is in quest of. 

And now, I am sure, if I have been happy enough to 
inspire you with a tithe of the interest with which I fol- 
lowed every winding of the Pyramid and of our cice- 
rone's mind— itself a most extraordinary labyrinth — 
you will be glad to hear that there seems every proba- 
bility of his soon reaching the little passage. Leaving 
a servant in the excavation, descending to the king's 
chamber, and shouting at the hole, the man answered 
by striking on the stone — distinct strokes — as satisfac- 
tory a reply as could be wished for. 

Here, of course, our wanderings ceased. We re- 
gained the gallery, and from thence descended, as I have 
already intimated, in a direct line, past the well, through 
the passage forced by Mamoun, and up the passage of 
entrance to the open air; and glad w T ere we to breathe 
it; but our first care was to don our coats and cloaks, 
as preventives against catching cold; the toil-drops 
w r ere falling from us like rain, and such hands and 
faces were never seen, for many a rood had we to creep 
on our hands and knees, or, like the king of the beg- 
gars, who used to haunt the purlieus of the Tower 
when I was a little boy, legs forward and face forward, 
punting with one's hands, — an attitude somewhat diffi- 
cult to describe.* 

* " It is a pity no one thinks of looking for any probable entrance 
to the chamber in which Herodotus says the king is buried, in a 
sarcophagus isolated from the rest by the water of the Nile, which 
enters and flows round it. The level of the Nile is 130 feet below 
the foundation ; the angle of descent always used here is known, 
and, with these two data, it is easy to calculate the level at which 
any passage to it must begin, and the distance from the Pyramid. 
It might be fruitless, but would be worth a minute examination all 
round." — Mr- Ramsay's Journal. 



44 



CAVIGLIA. 



After ablutions, &c, we drank tea, delicious tea ! in 
Caviglia's tent; a candle stuck in a bottle enlightened 
our repast, but dark, mystical, and unearthly was our 
conversation, — a sequel to the lecture he had given us 
inside the Pyramid, pointing out an end, a hidden 
purpose, a secret meaning in every nook, cranny, and 
passage of the structure — the scene, he told us, of 
initiation into the ancient Egyptian mysteries. 

We had him to breakfast two or three days ago at 
Cairo, and I had had a long confab with him before 
that. Living, as he has done, so solitary — I should 
rather say, in such society as that of the old Pharaohs 
of Egypt, their pyramids his home, and that strange 
enigma of a sphinx his fellow-watcher at their feet, he 
has become, to use his own expression, u tout-a-fait 
pyraniidale," in dress, feature, manner, thought, and 
language. We are told that in Ceylon there are insects 
that take the shape and colour of the branch or leaf 
they feed upon — Caviglia seems to partake of their 
nature, he is really assimilating to a pyramid. His 
history is very curious : " As a young man,'' lie told us 
this evening, " je lisais Voltaire, Jean Jacques, Diderot 
— et je me croyais philosophe ;" he came to Egypt — the 
Pyramids, Moses, and the Holy Scriptures converted 
him, " et maintenant," said he, " je suis tout Biblique." 
I have seldom met with a man so thoroughly imbued 
with the Bible ; the great truths of the Gospel, man's 
lost condition by the fall of Adam, Christ's voluntary 
death to expiate our sins, our inability to save our- 
selves, and the necessity of our being born again of the 
Holy Spirit — every one of these doctrines he avowed 
this evening; he seems to cling to them, and to love 
our blessed Saviour with the simplicity of a child ( 15 ) 
— he never names him without reverence; but on these 
doctrines, this rock, as a foundation, he has reared a 



CAVIGLIA. 



45 



pyramid of the most extraordinary mysticism — astro- 
logy, magnetism, magic, (his familiar studies,) its 
corner-stones, while on each face of the airy vision he 
sees inscribed in letters of light, invisible to all but 
himself, elucidatory texts of scripture, which he read 
off to us, with undoubting confidence, in support of his 
positions. 

Every religious truth, in short, unessential to salva- 
tion, is in his eyes fraught with mysticism. His me- 
mory is as accurate as a Presbyterian minister's — every 
text he quoted was prefaced by a reference to the 
chapter and verse where it occurs. He loves the Arabs, 
and looks forward to their conversion and civilization 
as the accomplishment of the prophecies that "there 
shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria" in that 
day when " Israel shall be a third with Egypt and 
Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land," — 
when the Lord shall have " set his hand the second 
time to recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, 
from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush," &c, and shall 
bless the assembled myriads, saying, " Blessed be 
Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, 
and Israel, mine inheritance." 

He quoted these remarkable prophecies, and I had 
the pleasure of telling him I looked forward to their 
speedy fulfilment with the same interest as himself.* 

* " Caviglia told me that he had pushed his studies in magic, 
animal magnetism, &c, to an extent which had nearly killed him — 
to the very verge, he said, of what is forbidden to man to know ; 
and it was only the purity of his intentions which saved him. He 
told me he could have the power of performing all the magical rites 
formerly practised, only that by the coming of our Saviour every- 
thing of minor degree was included, and it would now be a profa- 
nation to attempt such things. 

" Now one is very apt to call such a man a monomaniac on this 
particular point, and I should not know well how to reply to any 



46 



CAVIGLIA. 



I must wish my dear Anne good night. You can 
have no idea how comfortably we are lodged here. 
The rock is honeycombed with tombs, but this one has 
been cleared out, furnished with mats, glass-windows, 
&c. &c. Caviglia seems really to enjoy himself in his 
little fortress ; the Arabs are very fond of him — he is 
monarch of all he surveys, knows his fame, and enjoys 
it — and long may he do so ! He is now sixty-six, but 
still hale, active, and hearty. He hates Cairo, he says, 
the noise and bustle distract him, and he is quite 
happy here, with his pyramids, his mysticism, and his 
Bible.* 

one who should do so. He gave us a sort of history of his life ; he 
had come out a perfect infidel to Egypt ; he had curiosity about the 
Pyramids, and on being told that they did not make attempts at 
discovery, because the devil was there, ' If it's only the devil,' said 
he, ' I shall not trouble myself about him,' and so descended to the 
well, and made the discoveries he showed us. By reading, first of 
all, the works of the Greek philosophers, and then the Bible, he has 
become, as he said, ' peu a peu Bibliste et Chretien.' 

" Yet he has strange unearthly ideas, which seem to open up to 
you, as he says them, whole vistas of unheard-of ground, which close 
up again as suddenly, so that one can hardly know what his theories 
are. He says it would be highly dangerous to communicate them, 
and looks mystical, but evidently does not like to speak on the sub- 
ject, and otherwise loves a good hearty laugh and joke as much as 
any one." — Mr. Ramsay's Journal. 

* A full account of Caviglia's early labours, from information 
furnished by Mr. Salt, may be found in the nineteenth volume of the 
Quarterly Review, pp. 395 sqq. — Shortly after my visit to the Pyra- 
mids he withdrew from the field and returned to Europe, spending 
the last few years of his life at Paris, enjoying the warm friendship 
and sympathy of the late Earl of Elgin and Lady Elgin. He died 
there, at his lodgings in the Faubourg St. Germain, on Sunday the 
7th September, 1845. His Bible was buried with him by his own 
desire. — Many have wondered at my having spoken in such terms 
of a believer in magic, astrology, and the other occult sciences ; but 
subsequent intercourse confirmed the favourable impression I ori- 
ginally formed of him in Egypt, — and not only in my own mind but 
that of many others, my relatives and friends, whose opportunities of 



PYRAMID OF CEPHRENES. 



47 



Here we are at Cairo again. This morning, after 
breakfast, the kind Caviglia took us to Cephrenes' 
Pyramid, or Belzoni's as the Arabs call it. The pas- 
sage of entrance descends very rapidly ; entering back- 
wards, it is difficult to keep one's footing except by 
pressing one's back against the roof, and " straddling," 
like Apollyon, over the whole breadth of the way. 
After creeping under the portcullis, which Belzoni 
raised so successfully, and descending the shaft by a 
ladder which Caviglia has placed there, we reached the 
chamber of the sarcophagus, beautifully cut out of the 
rock ; the roof is composed of hewn stones, and rises 
in a pyramidal shape, which shows there must be a 
chamber above; but how to get at it? The passage, 
leading to the other room discovered by Belzoni, has 
been blocked up with stones by the Arabs. Altogether 
this pyramid is much inferior, both within and without, 
to that of Cheops, alias Caviglia's. 

Standing at the entrance, Caviglia pointed out to us 
a white hill, about a league and a half distant, where, 
he says, the base of a pyramid, three hundred feet 
long, is traceable, surrounded by little pyramids of 
pulverized granite, probably still more ancient than 
the pyramids of Djizeh themselves. 

The rock has been cut away so as to form a spacious 
area to the north of Cephrenes' pyramid; we rode 
through it towards that of Mycerinus — much smaller 
than its fellows, but of workmanship far superior to 
that of Cephrenes. The ground is covered with dis- 
lodged blocks of the red granite with which it was 
cased. ( 16 ) 

cultivating his acquaintance were still more favourable than mine. 
For myself, I can truly aver, that a simplicity more childlike, a 
humility more touching, a religious veneration more profound, I 
never witnessed among men. [1847.] 



48 



TRADITIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



A pretty story is told of this Pyramid. Pharaoh, it 
is said, was presiding in his court at Memphis, when 
an eagle, hovering over his head, dropped into his lap 
the smallest and prettiest slipper that ever was seen. 
Inquiry being made whence it came and whose it was, 
it turned out to be the property of the fair Khodope of 
Naucratis, and to have been snatched by the eagle out 
of her attendant's hands while she was bathing, Kho- 
dope became queen of Egypt, and, on her death, was 
buried by her disconsolate husband in this Pyramid. 
Do you remember our poor friend Howison mentioning 
this legend as possibly the original of Cinderella? ( 17 ) 

Nor less fanciful are the Arab traditions as to the 
origin of these world's wonders ! Saurid ebn Salhouk, 
who ruled in Egypt three hundred years before the 
flood, saw in a dream the earth convulsed, its inhabit- 
ants lying on their faces, the stars falling from heaven, 
clashing as they fell, and, marvellous to relate ! chang- 
ing into white birds, which, snatching up his unfortunate 
subjects, hurried them between two vast mountains 
which closed behind them, and then the remaining 
stars went out, and there was thick darkness on the 
earth. Springing up in horror, he summoned the wise 
men of Egypt, one hundred and thirty priests; ( 18 ) they 
consulted the stars, and foretold the deluge. "Will it 
come to our country ?" asked the king. " Yea," said 
they, " and will destroy it." " And there remained a 
certain number of years for to come, and he commanded 
in the mean space to build the Pyramids, and a vault 
to be made, into which the river Nilus entering should 
run into the countries of the west, and into the land of 
Al Said; and he filled them with talismans, and with 
strange things, and with riches and treasures, and the 
like. He engraved on them all things that were told 
him by wise men, as also of profound sciences, the 



TRADITIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



49 



names of alakakirs,* the uses and hurts of them, the 
science of astrology, and of arithmetic, and of geometry, 
and of physic. All this may be interpreted by him 
who knows their character and language. 

66 After he had given orders for this building, tney 
cut out vast columns and wonderful stones. They 
fetched massy stones from the Ethiopians, and made 
with these the foundation of the three great pyramids, 
fastening them together with lead and iron. They 
built the gates of them forty cubits under ground, and 
they made the height of the pyramid one hundred royal 
cubits. The beginning of this building was in a for- 
tunate horoscope. After he had finished it, he covered 
it with a coloured satin from the top to the bottom, and 
he appointed a solemn festival, at which were present 
all the inhabitants of his kingdom. 

" Then he built in the western pyramid thirty 
treasuries, filled with store of riches and utensils, and 
with signatures made of precious stones, and with 
instruments of iron and vessels of earth, and with arms 
that rust not, and with glass which might be bended 
and yet not broken, and with strange spells, and with 
several kinds of alakakirs, single and double, and with 
deadly poisons. 

"He made also in the eastern pyramid divers celestial 
spheres and stars, and what they severally operate in 
their aspects, and the perfumes which are used to them, 
and the books which treat of these matters. 

" He also put in the coloured pyramid the com- 
mentaries of the priests in chests of black marble, and 
with every priest a book, in which were the wonders of 
his profession and of his actions, and of his nature, and 
what was done in his time, and what is, and what shall 
be, from the beginning of time to the end of it. 

* Magical spells engraven upon precious stones, 
E 



50 



TRADITIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



" He placed in every pyramid a treasurer. The 
treasurer of the westerly pyramid was a statue of marble 
stone standing upright, with a lance, and upon his head 
a serpent wreathed ; he that came near it, and stood 
still, the serpent bit him on one side, and, wreathing 
round about h5s throat and killing him, returned to his 
place. He made the treasurer of the eastern pyramid 
an idol of black agate, his eyes open and shining, 
sitting upon a throne with a lance; when any looked 
upon him, he heard on one side of him a voice, which 
took away his senses, so that he fell prostrate upon his 
face, and ceased not till he died. He made the 
treasurer of the coloured pyramid a statue of stone, 
sitting; he which looked towards it, was drawn by the 
statue till he stuck to it, and could not be separated 
from it till such time as he died."* 

Here, then, in these pyramids — the sepulchres of 
Saurid, his brother, and his nephew, who were all 
buried there, were the knowledge and science of the 
antediluvians preserved, and hence they sprang forth 
again into life after the deluge. But it was still a 
grander flight of imagination to attribute their con- 
struction, with Baalbec and Istakhar, to Gian ben Gian, 
the Preadamite monarch of the world! — Well might 
the Arab poet look up at them, and say, " Ce sont des 
edifices que les siecles redoutent, pendant que ceux 
que nous elevons redoutent les siecles !"f 

Temples or tombs, monuments of tyranny or of 
priestly wisdom, no theory as to the meaning of the 
pyramids, 

" These glorious works of fine intelligence," 
has been broached so beautiful, to my mind, as old 
* Greaves' Pyramidographia. 

t Quoted by Ebn Al Ouardi, Notices desMSS. de la Bibliotheque 
du Roi, tome ii. 



TRADITIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS, 



51 



Sandys's, who, like Milton and the ancients, believing 
them modelled in imitation of " that formless form- 
taking substance," fire, conceives them to express the 
"original of things." "For as a pyramis, beginning 
at a point, by little and little dilateth into all parts, so 
nature, proceeding from one individual fountain, (even 
God the Sovereign Essence,) receiveth diversity of 
forms, effused into several kinds and multitudes of 
figures, uniting all in the supreme head, from whence 
all excellences issue." — A truth that will outlive even 
the pyramids. 

Each of them, according to the Arabs, has its guar- 
dian spirit; that of the southern pyramid is often seen 
hovering round it towards sunset, in the shape of a 
beautiful girl — but all go mad whom she favours with 
a smile. ( 19 ) 

The sphinx, too, according to the ancient Arabs, was 
a talisman fixed there to protect the district from the 
encroaching sand, that ever-rising, never ebbing tide 
of the Desert — which had already in the geographer 
Bakoui's time — the fourteenth century — swallowed up 
the palace and the city of Pharaoh, and other flourishing 
towns and villages to the west of Djizeh ; one marble 
column remained, towering over the waste, but no one 
could reach it. Caviglia cleared away the sand from 
around the sphinx about twenty years ago, but the 
winds have nearly covered her again — her back, I should 
rather say, for she always held her head above water. 
Her attitude bespeaks the calm repbse of conscious 
strength, her expression of countenance benevolence — 
the tout-ensemble, strange mysterious beauty, awful in its 
stillness. A monster she is indeed, but not one to 
tremble at — you stand before her in awe and revere nee, 
as before the wise but benevolent Simurgh ; and oh ! 
if one could but give her a tongue, what histories she 

E 2 



52 



THE SPHINX, 



would tell, what wisdom reveal to us !( 20 ) A little temple 
is built between her paws : a lion couches in front of it, 
looking up at her — both now fathom deep under the 
sandy deluge.* 

There are numbers of tumuli, or barrows, around 
the three great pyramids, heaving the soil, like graves 
in a country churchyard; they look mere molehills from 
the top, but contain spacious halls and chambers. 

The sphinx, by-the-bye, Caviglia told us he believed 
to express, enigmatically, the doctrine of man's re- 
generation, as explained to Nicodemus by our Saviour, 
and which he supposes to have been one of the ancient 
Egyptian (it certainly was one of the Indian) doctrines 
derived from primitive revelation. That they had much 
traditional wisdom is unquestionable, and Heliopolis, 
the On of Genesis, was the shrine where it was pre- 
served, — I know few places of more intense interest ; 
Potipher,f Joseph's father-in-law, was prince and priest 
there; there dwelt the sages of Egypt, and there 
Moses, Herodotus, Plato, Eudoxus, successively became 
" learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." 

We visited the site two or three days ago — a range 
of mounds, enclosing an oblong square, smooth and 
covered with corn — Selim encamped on it when he 
came to conquer Cairo — one obelisk, lone survivor, still 

* " The expense incurred by these operations (in the Pyramids and 
around the Sphinx) amounted to about 18,000 piastres, a share of 
which was contributed by Mr. Salt and two or three other gentlemen, 
who liberally engaged that the disposal of whatever might be dis- 
covered should be left wholly to M. Caviglia; and he, on his part, 
generously requested that everything might be sent to the British 
Museum, as a testimony of his attachment to that country, under 
the protection of whose flag he had for many years navigated the 
sea." Quarterly Review, torn, xix, p. 418. — Caviglia was indeed a 
British subject, as a native of Malta. [1847.] 
Poti-ph'-re, Priest of Re. [1847.] 



HELIOPOLIS. 



53 



pointing to the sky. It was erected, we know, by the 
Pharaoh Osirtesen, in the eighteenth century before 
Christ, in front of the temple of Vulcan; but where, 
you ask, is the temple ? I see no propyla, no dromos, 
no shrine — where is the temple ? Are those shapeless 
fragments of granite the sphinxes Strabo mentions? 
Possibly — Heliopolis was desolate even in his day. 
You may search, but there is nothing more to be seen; 
the corn waves in the breeze, and you push your way 
through it without stumbling ; all is smooth, and you 
are ready to think the genies of Aladdin's lamp must 
have carried off the temple, and left that single obelisk 
to tell the tale. Alas, poor Phoenix! wert thou to come 
to life again, and revisit Heliopolis ! ( 21 ) 



I have said that the Pyramids were building while 
Abraham was in Egypt. I dare say you have been 
wondering on what grounds I assert this, so much 
dispute having always existed as to their antiquity. 
And when I add, that I think there is every reason to 
believe that they were built by the " Royal Shepherds" 
of Egypt, who afterwards became the Philistines, you 
may well call on me for my reasons. 

Come, dear Anne, for I know the delight you feel in 
such adventures — come and let us venture, hand in 
hand, into this dark chasm, at the mouth of which we 
stand, the cavern of the past, and, with mummy-torches 
to guide us, explore its recesses. We shall find facts, 
isolated facts, like carbuncles, casting a sure light 
through the gloom — -jewels of historical truth, worthy 
of being set into a necklace which Clio herself need not 

disdain to wear. Are you ready? Come then 

The cave grows chillier and chillier, gloomier and 
gloomier, as we descend ; do you hear the roar of 



54 



FOUNDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



waters ? the deluge is still seething up here ; the cave 
extends far beyond that dark and stormy water, but 
there is no crossing it, no reaching yon distant shore 
without the Ark of Noah, and that has been buried for 
ages under the snows of Ararat. Here stop we — — 
But a truce to this nonsense, and let me to my argu- 
ment 

Yet do not mistake me ; I have no new theory to 
advance ; I aspire only to dovetail into one harmonious 
piece of marqaeterie the scattered discoveries of those 
learned men who have studied the subject, and which, 
viewed connectedly, lead to the results briefly expressed 
above. Ah initio , then, dear Anne, in other words, 
commenqons par le commencement. 

Of Ham's three sons, Canaan, the youngest, (the 
only one on whom the curse was pronounced,) was 
ancestor of the ten tribes whom Abraham found in 
occupation of the Promised Land, bearing the national 
patronymic of Canaanites — how awfully depraved in 
their morals, I need not remind you. Their iniquities, 
however, had not come to the full till four hundred 
years after Abraham, when the Israelites were the 
hammer in the hand of God for crushing them. 

A giant race, distinct from the Canaanites, "a people 
great, and strong, and tall," occupied many parts of 
the country between the Nile and the Euphrates in 
Abraham's day; their punishment, probably as being 
earlier depraved, took place between his time and that 
of Moses ; the Anakim, who dwelt at Hebron in the 
hill-country of Judah — the Emim, who possessed the 
country east of the Dead Sea, afterwards Moab — the 
Zamzummim, w T ho dwelt in what was afterwards called 
Ammon, &c, being so utterly " destroyed by the Lord," 
through the agency of the children of Lot, and others, 
who occupied their country, that in the time of Joshua, 



FOUNDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



55 



" only Og, the king of Bashan, remained of the remnant 
of the giants." 

Besides these nations, the Chorim or Horites, who 
occupied Mount Seir, were destroyed to make room for 
the children of Esau, or the E do mites ; and the Avim 
for " the Philistines, the remnant of the country of 
Caphtor" — " who came out of Caphtor" — " whom," God 
emphatically tells us, " I brought from Caphtor." 

Caphtor is the same word as Egypt, or Copt, applied 
in Scripture to Lower, as Pathros is to Upper Egypt, 
or the Thebaid. 

It is clear, therefore, from the word of truth, that 
God, our Author and Disposer, 6< who hath made of one 
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of 
the earth, and hath determined the times before 
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" — brought 
the Philistines, after some great revolution which re- 
duced them to the mere remnant of a once powerful 
nation, out of Lower Egypt into the land of Canaan. 

While Canaan was peopled by the descendants of the 
younger, Egypt was so by those of the elder son of 
Ham, the Misraim. From her great natural advan- 
tages, she soon rose to civilization, and flourished till a 
nomadic race, surnamed the Uk-sos, or Royal Shep- 
herds, (by some, says Manetho, supposed of Arabian 
origin,) poured down upon the country, subdued the 
natives, and held the sceptre for two hundred and sixty 
years, till the natives roused themselves, and, after a 
long and bloody contest, compelled them to take refuge 
at Abaris, probably Pelusium, a stronghold on the 
eastern branch of the Nile, which the first shepherd 
king had fortified as " the bulwark of Egypt" against 
the Assyrians, then the dominant power in Asia. After 
a tedious siege, the Egyptians, in despair of getting rid 
of them otherwise, allowed them to depart, with their 



53 



FOUNDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



families and cattle, in quest of another settlement, 
which they did, in the direction of Syria. 

It must have been during this usurpation that Abra- 
ham visited Egypt, for the revolution by which they 
were expelled had evidently taken place shortly before 
Joseph's time, when " every shepherd was" such " an 
abomination to the Egyptians," that the pasturing Israel- 
ites were assigned the district of Goshen, " the best of 
the land," rich unoccupied pasture ground, for their re- 
sidence, that they might dwell there with their flocks 
and herds apart from the natives ; by which providen- 
tial separation they were preserved as a distinct people. 
Jacob passed through Goshen, and Joseph met him 
there, on his road from Canaan to Egypt ; the Israelites 
did not cross the Nile when they quittedEgypt ; Goshen, 
therefore, lay to the east, probably along the eastern 
bank of the Pelusiac branch of the river. Why was 
cs the best of the land" unoccupied, but because the 
shepherd owners had just been expelled? 

Now, when we read in the Bible that the Philistines 
came out of Lower Egypt, and were settled in the land 
of Canaan before the arrival of the Israelites, from 
whose triumphant exodus (though Manetho ignorantly, 
and Josepkns wilfully, confound them) theirs differed 
in being so calamitous an expulsion that " a remnant" 
only survived, though that remnant was numerous 
enough to subdue the Avim, and occupy their country; 
and when, naturally inquiring what light Egyptian 
history throws on the subject, we find this story of the 
expulsion of the shepherd kings, in the direction of 
Canaan, at a period anterior to the arrival of Joseph; 
is it possible to doubt the identity of the royal shep- 
herds and the Philistines? — that warlike people, those 
" foreigners " of the Septuagint, speaking a language 
distinct from that of the Jews, who, occupying the sea- 



FOUNDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



57 



coast, between the Nile and Ekron, gave it their own 
name, Palestina, confined by the prophet Isaiah to their 
pentapolis, but afterwards extended to the whole land 
of Israel, Palestine — a word, mark you, not Hebrew, 
but Sanscrit, and still implying, in that language, 
" the shepherd's land !" 

If this needed confirmation, we should find it in the 
testimony borne by the Hindoo records, that a branch 
of the great Pali, or shepherd race of India, whose 
sway extended from their far-famed capital, Pali-bothra, 
to Siam on the east, and the Indus on the west, the in- 
termediate country bearing the same name Palisthan, 
or Palestine, afterwards imposed on the land of Canaan 
— conquered Egypt, and oppressed the Egyptians, in 
the same manner as the Egyptian records tell us the 
royal shepherds did. Nor is it less remarkable that 
while Abaris, or Avaris, the stronghold of the Auritae 
or royal shepherds, in the land of Goshen, derives its 
name from Abhir, ( 22 ) the Sanscrit word for a shepherd — 
Goshena, or Goshayana, in the same language, implies 
" the abode of shepherds," and gosha is explained in 
Sanscrit dictionaries by the phrase Abhiropalli, " a town 
or village of Abhiras or Pallis." ( 23 ) 

And who, then, (to revert to the point from which I 
set out,) wdio can the shepherd Philitis* who fed his 
flocks near Memphis, whose name the popular tradition 
of the Egyptians, in Herodotus' s time, gave to the 
pyramids, built by his contemporaries Cheops and 
Cephrenes, the tyrants who shut up their temples, and 
forbade the sacrifices, and whose names the people held 
in such abhorrence that they would not pronounce 

* Bhilata or palita, " a shepherd," in Sanscrit. It is remarkable 
that one of the ancient Pali tribes in India was called Rajpalli, or 
Royal Shepherds. — See Colonel Tod's Annals of Rajasthan, vol. i, 
p. 119. 



58 



FOUNDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS, 



them — who and what can he be, but a personification 
of the shepherd dynasty — the Palis of the Hindoo 
records, who, after erecting the pyramids, those im- 
perishable monuments of their glory, after the models 
they remembered in their native Assyria, reappear in 
later years, and when fallen from their high estate, as 
the Philistines, " the remnant of the country of Caph- 
tor," ever at enmity with the people of God, and now, 
like every nation that oppressed them, vanished from 
our eyes? 

I have argued it clumsily, but do you not now agree 
with me that the pyramids were built by the shepherd 
kings of Egypt, the ancestors of the Philistines, in the 
time of Abraham? 

And will you not sympathize with me, dear Anne, 
when I add, that the name of Pali, that once rang as 
the slogan of victory from the Irawaddy to the Po, — 
which blazed on the banner that, ages before Rome was 
thought of, waved as free to the wind on Mount Palatine 
as on the hills of Meroe and the towers of Palibothra, 
(what a pyramid of empire !) is now a reproach, a curse, 
and a hissing, to the wretches on whose outcast heads 
that crown of glory has descended — Pali, Pelasgi, Pala- 
tines all extinct — its sole inheritors ; dwelling on the 
hills where erst Palibothra rose — girt round by the 
Rajpoots, who supplanted their power and called their 
country by another name — and still worshipping Maha- 
deva, their ancestral god, who, in the twilight of 
Egyptian history, led their kinsmen to the conquest of 
Meroe and the Nile, — robbers, thieves, outcasts, of all 
the degraded tribes of India, there are none more 
miserable, one only more despised, than the Bheels, 
the Palis of Malwah! 

Bear with me a few minutes longer. Is it too much 
to argue from the fact that both nations were punished 



DR. HALLo. 



59 



only, not exterminated, by a just and discerning God — 
that, fearfully as both had gone astray, neither the 
royal shepherds at the period of their expulsion from 
Egypt, nor the Egyptians at the time of the exode of 
the Israelites, had reached that acme of depravity, 
"which, at corresponding seasons in the history of the 
chosen people, caused the earth to swallow up the cities 
of the plain — to vomit forth the tribes of the Canaan- 
ites ? 

And w T ere, then, the Anakim, the Emim, the Zam- 
zuminim, the Horim, the Avim, equally depraved? 
Else, why were they thus exterminated? 

u The Z am z ummim s, a people great, and many, and 
tall as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them be- 
fore them; and" the Ammonites " succeeded them, and 
dwelt in their stead; 

"As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in 
Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; 
and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead, even 
unto this day ; 

" And the Avims, which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto 
Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came out of Caphtor, 
destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead." 

Oh! who can sum up, who can form a concep- 
tion of the misery, moral, physical, temporal, and 
eternal, brought into this world by sin, and laid all 
upon our Saviour, when the life and death of three 
nations extirpated for their vices — we know nothing 
more of them— are summed up in three verses — a mere 
parenthesis in the Bible such as this ! 

One word more. I forget whether or not you are a 
convert to the longer system of chronology, so ably 
advocated by our friend Dr. Hales, by which we get 
six hundred additional years before, and seven hundred 
after the Deluge — years most welcome to the historical 



60 



CHRONOLOGY OF DR. HALES 



antiquary, who feels himself wofully cramped in his 
investigations by the common Bible chronology, which 
makes Noah alive at the rime of the great apostasy at 
Babel, and Shem contemporary with Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob ! * May we not derive another argument for 
this system from the consideration, that if God bore 
with the vices of the Ccinaanites four hunched years 
before he considered it a righteous thing to destroy 
them, the Avim, Emim, Zamzummim, Horim, <Sce., 
must surely have existed as nations at a period earlier 
than the received chronology assigns to the Deluge I 
If not, the Avim and Horim, to take these two as 
examples, must each have become a nation, have for- 
saken the patriarchal worship, sunk into all manner of 
depravity, and been destroyed from the face of the 
earth, within six hundred years after the Deluge — 
judging by analogy, a manifest impossibility. 

Adieu, dear Anne ; we start to-morrow for Upper 
Egypt. 

* See the New Analysis of Chronology, (vol. i, pp.272 — 2S9, 
second edition.) a work, the title of which, says Mr. Hart well 
Home, M very inadequately describes its multifarious contents. Xot 
only is it the most elaborate system of Chronology extant in our 
language, but there is scarcely a difficult text in the sacred writings 

which is not illustrated The 1 Xew Analysis' ought to have ft 

place in the library of every biblical student." 



OUR DAHABIEH. 



61 



LETTER V. 

Our Dahabieh— -Night- Scenes on the Nile — Pyramids of Saccara, 
Dashour, &c. — The False Pyramid — Minieh — Story of Ebn 
Khasib — Siout — Tombs of Lycopolis — Stabl Antar — Traditions 
of the Copts — Ruins of Abydus — Palace of Sesostris— -Kenneh. 

December 28, 1836. 
My dear Mother, — I have just been admiring our 
little bark from the banks of the Nile, as she glided 
slowly along, her wings spread, wooing the breeze, and 
a blue sky above us, 

" So cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful, 
That God alone was to be seen in heaven ! " 

You must understand the epithet little as one of endear- 
ment, according to Burke's theory of the Beautiful ; in 
truth, she is of ample dimensions, — come, let me 
describe her to you, premising that we left Siout last 
night, and are now in Upper Egypt, the land of 
Thebes — a rapturous reality sometimes difficult to 
convince ourselves of. Two crocodiles have welcomed 
us already; we have only just entered their territory. 
No hippopotami are to be seen north of the cataracts; 
to supply the deficiency, we have named our boat " the 
Hippopotamus," an epithet by no means inappropriate 
to a river-riding bark like ours. 

She is of the dahabieh class, the middle size of those 
employed on the Nile. Our first care, after securing 
her, was to have her sunk, to destroy the rats and 
vermin, then to have her painted and repaired ; she is 
now quite clean, and I hope will continue so a good 
while. The inner and smaller cabin is just large 
enough for me ; the larger is furnished with a Turkish 
divan on one side, and William's bed on the other, 



62 



OUR DAHABIEH. 



with a table between and a mat below ; the windows 
are Venetian blinds, and open or shut at pleasure, with 
chintz curtains drawing across them ; on the panels we 
have suspended three pair of pistols, our large tele- 
scope, straw hats, looking-glass, &c. &c. A sword, 
with which we equip our dragoman, Abdallah, when we 
go on shore in state, and William's gun and rifle, occupy 
the corner. Shelves are put up in both cabins; in 
mine I have marshalled our little library, which looks 
charmingly there. 

In front of the cabin a large tent is pitched, of double 
canvas, open at the mast end, furling upwards at the 
sides during the day, and closing in at night, when Mis- 
sirie, Abdallah, and Hadji Achmet (an Arab help) sleep 
on its cushioned divans. In this tent we breakfast and 
dine ; we live here, in fact, during the daytime, and 
after dinner (at sunset) adjourn to the cabin to drink a 
cup of delicious Mocha coffee ; we then read till tea- 
time, and afterwards till about midnight — and then to 
Bedfordshire. 

Beyond the tent, and facing the mast, is the kitchen, 
a little edifice of wood and brickwork, where Missirie 
presides as cuisinier, and a first-rate artiste he is. Be- 
yond the mast are the quarters of the crew, and a small 
cannon. 

The crew consists of ten men, besides the reis or 
captain ; they are active, willing, good-humoured fel- 
lows, and have harmonious voices, a great lounge, (to 
speak Etonice,) as the Arab boatmen are a noisy set, 
constantly singing to their work, and always in chorus ; 
one of them leads, and the rest join in, generally line 
by line, alternately, neither uttering more than five or 
six words at a time. The chorus of each song is always 
the same, but the Coryphaeus, or leader, seems to sing 



NIGHT-SCENES ON THE NILE. 



63 



ad libitum, words and air both, often deviating into a 
wild yell. 

A curious scene was going on around us three or 
four evenings ago. We are now in Ramadan, the 
Mahometan Lent, always rigorously kept by the Arabs, 
who taste nothing from sunrise to sunset. The sun 
had gone down behind the bank of the river, but, as 
they might not eat till the legal hour of sunset, there 
they sat, poor fellows ! each w T ith an onion in his hand, 
their eyes fixed on Missirie's watch, by which he was 
to let them know when they might conscientiously set 
to. That evening was a very merry one ; squatted in a 
circle, they sang unceasingly for two hours or more — 
strange wild chants, keeping time by clapping their 
hands, a custom handed down to them from the ancient 
Egyptians, and to the accompaniment of a rude tam- 
bour or drum. Each song ended with two extraordinary 
yells, not inharmonious, in which all joined, the voices 
dropping, as if from exhaustion, at the close. Between 
each song was heard the distant chorus of a crew toil- 
ing on the other side of the river, and the whistling 
drone of a reed-pipe from a boat full of Bedouins from 
the west, pilgrims to Mecca, keeping company with us; 
sitting silent and motionless, their features almost in- 
visible — their dark eyes gleaming from under their 
massive white drapery — never saw I figures more 
savagely picturesque ! The reises, meanwhile, being 
in the complimentary mood, guns and pistols were 
going off every moment, each followed up by the yell 
of all the crews, succeeded, at least on board our vessel, 
by another song — and so on. The rolling echo of the 
guns from the rocks across the river added to the effect 
of this strange night-scene on the Nile. I do enjoy 
these wild old airs. 



64 



SCENERY OF THE NILE. 



We have had favourable breezes for the most part 
hitherto, and have gone night and day, the crew reliev- 
ing each other; the breeze generally fails at sunset, 
after which they punt the boat, or tovr it along the 
shore. We constantly run aground, and then they 
dash over into the water, fearless of the crocodiles^ 
and push away, hands and shoulders, to the usual chant 
of " Haylee sa! haylee sa V* till they clear her. Wil- 
liam gets a walk and a little shooting every day, and I 
often accompany him as his gamekeeper, The banks, 
as we skim past them, are sometimes absolutely covered 
with wild geese — fire a gun, and they rise in myriads, 
as clangingly as Homer heard them settle on the banks 
of the reedy Caystei\ 

And what delicious weather \ the morning and even- 
ing clear and transparent as the dew; but no pencil 
could paint, no tongue describe, the rich glow of the 
western sky at sunset, or the jDink zone that girdles the 
horizon as the night falls, — pink at first, but changing 
from shade to shade, like the cheek of Iris, till the 
last, a delicate green, like chrysophraz, darkens into 
night. And night, how lovely ! the moon riding tri- 
umphantly along, not let into the sky, as in the north, 
but visibly round and detached — you can see far beyond 
her, — with all her starry train around her, i; the poetry 
of heaven!" But richer sunsets and still lovelier nights 
are before us. 

We are pressing on for Thebes, and have conse- 
quently left several interesting objects unvisited till our 
return, when we shall be better judges of their merit. 
We started under peculiarly gratifying auspices, fairly 
distancing a boat that put off in pursuit of us from the 
custom-house; had they boarded us, a teskeray, which 
we had received that morning from M. Piozin, the vice- 
consul, would have cleared us. 



MINIEH. 



65 



Never, dear mother, knew I what luxury was till 
now! I have realized Horace's idea of complete repose 
in lying at length under a green arbutus (at least as 
shady a tree) beside his own bright fountain at Lucre- 
tilis ; but what is that to reclining under a tent, on a 
Turkish divan, in an Arab boat, ascending the Nile — a 
never ending diorama of loveliness ! villages, dovecots, 
mosques, santons' tombs, hermits' cells, temples, pyra- 
mids, avenues of the thorny acacia, (from which the 
country derives one of its old Sanscrit names,) and, 
loveliest of all, groves after groves of date-trees, 

" bending 

Languidly their leaf- crowned heads, 
Like youthful maids, when sleep, descending, 

Warns them to their silken beds,"— 

all slumbrous — all gliding past like the scenery of a 
dream — without effort — peacefully — silently; and yet, 
as when watching the stars at midnight, you feel all the 
while as if the sweetest music were murmuring in your 
ear.* 

The Pyramids of Djizeh, of Abousir, of Saccara — that 
of Dashour, the False Pyramid, as it is called, rising in 
degrees, as we are told the tower of Babel did, — all 
these have flitted past, and minareted Minieh, the 
largest town on the Nile between Cairo and Siout, — 
a pretty legend is attached to this place by one of the 
old Arabian travellers, and I must tell it as we sail 
by:- 

Ages ago, in the days of the Abbassides, to whom 
Egypt bowed the knee from the middle of the eighth to 
that of the ninth century, one of the Caliphs, even the 

* On one occasion we were witness to a very curious instance of 
double refraction — the river we were ascending was reproduced in 
the horizon at right angles to ourselves — date-trees, mosques, vil- 
lages, &c, all in motion, and as if crossing our course. [1847 ] 

v 



66 



EBN KHASIB. 



great Haroun Al-raschid himself, was wroth with the 
Egyptians, and, desirous at once to punish, and make 
them an example to others, he picked out the lowest of his 
slaves, one Ebn Khasib, the bath- warmer of the palace, 
and sent him governor to Egypt, in the confidence that 
the insolence, rapacity, and cruelty of such a ruler would 
amply express his resentment. Never was a man more 
mistaken than the Caliph ; never was Egypt happier 
than under the mild rule of Ebn Khasib. His fame 
spread far and wide ; many even of the Caliph's imme- 
diate courtiers, and one, especially, of his nearest kins- 
men, visited and were entertained by him ; in short, 
Ebn Khasib was a second Chebib. 

On the return of his kinsman to Bagdad, the Caliph, 
who had remarked and wondered at his absence, in- 
quired where he had been ? " To Egypt," replied the 
prince, and proceeded to extol the humanity, justice, 
benevolence, and generosity of the governor, and dis- 
play the presents he had received from him. The 
Caliph, enraged at the failure of his scheme, sent in- 
stant and peremptory orders for his degradation, that 
his house should be razed to the ground, his goods 
confiscated, his eyes put out, and that he should be 
cast forth, naked and a beggar, into the streets of 
Bagdad. 

To hear, of course, was to obey ; a few weeks, and 
behold Ebn Khasib, friendless, hungry, destitute, grop- 
ing his way through the streets, or sitting near the gate 
of the seraglio, forgotten by his old fellow-slaves, un- 
heeded by the nobles who had eaten his bread and salt 
in Egypt, and whose silken garments touched as they 
swept past him ; the summer birds flee with the summer 
flowers ! 

He was accosted one morning by a poet : — u Ebn 
Khasib," said he, " I was on the point of starting for 



EBN KHASIB. 



67 



Egypt with a poem in your praise ; your arrival here 
in Bagdad saves me the trouble of that long journey, 
and, if you will listen, I shall have great pleasure in 
repeating it." 

" Poor and blind, naked and miserable," replied Ebn 
Khasib, " what have I to give thee ? Go, my friend, 
seek a richer patron ; my star has set." 

u Only listen to me," replied the child of song, " and 
as for recompence, God only do for you as you have 
done for others !" 

Ebn Khasib listened, and his heart was touched; 
they were the first words of sympathy that had consoled 
him in his misfortunes. He cut open a seam of his 
robe, and took out a ruby— it was the only valuable 
that he had been able to secrete on the wreck of his 
fortunes. " Accept this gem," said Ebn Khasib — the 
poet expostulated — Ebn Khasib insisted — and the 
poet accordingly carried it to the jewellers' bazar. 

" Such a stone," cried the syndik of the jewellers, 
" can only belong to the Caliph," and before the Caliph 
they brought him. He told his little story ; the Caliph's 
eye glistened, he sent for Ebn Khasib, owned he had 
done wrong, loaded him with presents, and sent him 
back to Egypt, proprietor of Minieh, the spot he was 
fondest of in all the valley of the Nile — that Nile, to 
whose bounty the poet's fancy had likened his own; 
the place is still called after him, " Minieh Ebn Khasib," 
and his posterity flourished there for I cannot say how 
many generations, but they were extinct when my 
authority, Ebn Batuta, visited the spot in the four- 
teenth century.* 

" As pretty a story as that of Queen Rhodope and 
her slipper !" But this is true, dear children ! And 



" Travels M &c, translated by Dr. Lee, 4to, 1829, p. 14. 
F 2 



68 



TOMBS OF LYCOPOLIS* 



what a commentary on the prophecy, — " Egypt shall 
be a base kingdom — the basest of kingdoms !" Surely 
looking merely to the cause of Ebn Khasib's promo- 
tion, her subjection to the warrior Mamelukes was not 
so degrading. ( 24 ) 

Siout, on the west bank of the river, was the first 
place we stopped at — to visit the catacombs and tombs 
of ancient Lycopolis, excavated in the mountain that 
overhangs that city, the modern capital of Upper Egypt, 
For many hours before arriving at Manfalout, ( 25 ) the 
vast rocks that edge in the Nile to the east are perfo- 
rated with hundreds of grottoes, some natural, others 
cut by the hand of man, and often at a great height 
above the water — the retreats of the Christian hermits 
who treated S. Athanasius so kindly during his repeated 
exiles from Alexandria. We often sailed close under 
them, and with the glass I could see far within the 
dusky portals, uncrossed now for many centuries. The 
tombs of Lycopolis (so called from the old Egyptian 
wolf-worship) were in later times appropriated by a 
similar swarm to that which hived north of Manfalout: 
— " They sunk," says Gibbon, " under the painful 
weight of crosses and chains, and their emaciated 
limbs were confined by collars, bracelets, gauntlets, and 
greaves of massy and rigid iron ; they often usurped 
the den of some wild beast whom they affected to 
resemble ; they buried themselves in some gloomy 
cavern which art or nature had scooped out of the rock, 
and the marble quarries of Thebais are still inscribed 
with the monuments of their penance." This he says 
generally of the Anchorets, but the description is pecu- 
liarly appropriate to those of Lycopolis, who ejected 
the mummies of wolves to make living mummies of 
themselves! Some of the grottoes, however — those, 
probably, appropriated to the wealthier human mum- 



TOMBS OF LYCOPOLIS. 



69 



mies, are of noble proportions; they are excavated, 
one above another, in the receding face of the rocks. 
We visited, I believe, all the larger, and explored with 
torches some of the smaller catacombs to which they 
lead; many of them end abruptly, others seem to be 
continued far into the bowels of the mountain. Every- 
where the ground sounds hollow under the feet, and 
one must walk with caution, the floors being full of 
mummy-pits and depressions where the earth has 
fallen in. 

The first excavation we reached is called "Stabl 
Antar," after the far-famed lover of Ibla." A lofty arch- 
way leads you into a hall of noble proportions, once 
most elaborately ornamented with hieroglyphics on the 
walls, and the richest tracery on the ceiling, flowers 
and diamond- shaped devices, of different patterns and 
colours, succeeding each other in parallel rows; they 
are now much defaced, and, from the description that 
Norden, a Danish traveller of last century, gives of 
them, must have suffered much during the last hundred 
years. Great pains seem to have been taken with 
this chamber; we found in none of the others such 
elaborate ornament or such beautiful proportions. 

Leading the way up the hill, our guides following us, 
we found, above the Stabl Antar, a range of smaller 
excavations, and, above them again, a third tier, more 
extensive, but of rougher workmanship, than the first; 
a very large hall, once ornamented with hieroglyphics, 
and supported by square pillars, (left standing when 
the grotto was hewn out of the rock,) forming a cross 
with an inner chamber, narrower but longer, leading to 
further catacombs and passages. Regaining the face 
of the mountain, which looks N.E., and turning to the 
left, we came to another very large hall on the same tier, 
originally entered by a vestibule between two square 



70 



TOMBS OF LYCOPOLIS. 



pillars, both now gone ; of two others, which correspond 
with them at the farther end, the one to the right only- 
remains. On the right, entering the vestibule, is a 
large tablet of hieroglyphics, beautifully sculptured, 
especially the birds, and coloured blue ; to the left, on 
entering the hall, are the remains of sculptures running 
along the wall, three rows of warriors marching in pro- 
cession, with large shields, covering nearly the whole 
body, and long spears or billhooks. The lower row is 
almost gone. Above them, and below (as it were sup- 
porting) the ceiling, runs an elegant frieze of ornaments 
shaped like daggers. Bones and fragments of mum- 
mies are lying here and there, wherever the riflers of 
the mummy-pits have thrown them — disgusting objects. 

Proceeding to the left, we came to another large and 
loftier hall, much fallen in ; many other chambers at 
different heights of the mountain have suffered the same 
fate. After visiting two or three other ranges of exca- 
vations one above another, we reached the summit of 
the mountain, and enjoyed a lovely view of the valley 
of the Nile — itself a river of verdure meandering through 
the desert — diversified with date-groves, the dark- 
foliaged fig-sycamore, and avenues of the yellow-blos- 
soming Egyptian acacia, alternating with fields of the 
richest produce, every shade of green, striped with 
canals and water-courses , the white minarets, towering 
over the capital of Upper Egypt, rendering a town of 
mud houses the most picturesque object in the land- 
scape. ( 26 ) 

Interesting too, very interesting, is Siout, as the resi- 
dence of our Saviour and his Virgin mother after the 
flight into Egypt, if we may lend the ear of credulity to 
the tradition of the Copts, who consider the place holy, 
and often come here to die. ( 27 ) An ancient sycamore 



TOMBS OF LYCOPOLIS. 



71 



at Mataria, near the plain of Heliopolis, which sheltered 
the holy fugitives during the heat of noon, and opened 
spontaneously to conceal them from the pursuers, (so 
runs the legend,) and a grotto in Old Cairo where they 
subsequently found refuge, both of which we visited, 
share with Siout in the veneration of the Copts. Look- 
ing down on Siout, it is pleasing to remember and be- 
lieve the tradition ; and the fact of there being no monk- 
ish edifice either there or at Heliopolis lends a degree 
of credibility to both legends, which one cannot con- 
cede to many of the so-called " loca sancta" of Pa- 
lestine. 

The traditions, however, of early Christianity point 
out Hermopolis as the residence of the Holy Family till 
they removed to the balsam-grove of Mataria, ( 28 ) adding, 
that when the heaven-born child " was, either by design 
or providence, carried into a temple, all the statues of the 
idol-gods fell down, like Dagon at the presence of the ark, 
and suffered their timely and just dissolution and dis- 
honour, according to the prophecy of Isaiah ; * Behold 
the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idcls of Egypt 
shall be moved at his presence.'"* Hermopolis has 
now resumed her pristine name, Asmunein; her beauti- 
ful portico burnt for lime, no one now halts to notice 
her; we passed her by some days ago. But this is a 
digression. 

The modern cemetery of Siout, a beautiful object, 
lies on the slope of the hill we stood on; north of the 
town stands the palace of the Pasha, and to the east, 
beyond the Nile, the horizon is bounded by the Gebel 
Mokattam, or eastern mountains, answering to the 
western or Libyan chain, on a ridge of which we were 



* Jeremy Taylor's Life of Christ 



12 



TOMBS OF LYCOPOLIS, 



standing ; sometimes approaching, sometimes receding 
from the river, they hem in the valley of Egypt, from 
Cairo to the cataracts. 

After examining sundry other smaller tombs, from 
several of which low slanting passages, like those of the 
Pyramids, now choked up, seem to run deep into the 
mountain, we descended through a stony valley (not a 
blade of vegetation) perforated on both sides by similar 
excavations, (they are really countless — there must be 
thousands of them,) and turning to the left again, arrived, 
to my great delight, (for, after reaching the first excava- 
tion, the lazy Arabs left me to lead the way and explore 
for myself,) at a portal far more magnificent than any 
we had previously seen, — not arched (remember, every- 
thing here is cut out of the living rock) but flat-roofed, 
the sides inclining towards each other with the old 
Egyptian courtesy, and beautifully sculptured,— a tablet 
of hieroglyphics is inscribed on either side of the en- 
trance, but in the hall it led us into we found none. 
This hall, though inferior in beauty to that of Antar, 
appeared larger and loftier than any we had yet seen ; 
if the hills of rubbish heaped up in it were cleared 
away, it would be very nearly a perfect square. We 
observed vestiges of four square pillars, stained, as in 
all these larger excavations, in imitation of granite ; the 
Egyptians excelled in these deceptions. Arched en- 
trances are cut in every side, and', to judge by one we 
entered on the right, lead to low chambers of consider- 
able extent. We lighted our torches, and, creeping 
along, found our way to the opening of another smaller 
passage, about six feet from the ground. We climbed 
up it, and found ourselves in the first large cavern we 
had reached above Antar's, a very agreeable surprise. 
Our descent to the plain was soon effected, and a plea- 



ABYDUS. 



73 



sant walk of about half an hour brought us to our boat 
— our palace rather.* 

January 3, 1837. 

A happy new year to my dear father and mother, 
and all dear to me ! For some days past we have made 
but little or no progress, but this morning we are skim- 
ming along merrily ; we shall perhaps reach Kenneh 
to-day — to-morrow certainly, if the breeze lasts. These 
days, however, have been days of great enjoyment. ( 29 ) 

Yesterday we rode on donkeys from Girgeh to Arabat 
Madfoun, the ancient Abydus, sending on our boat to 
wait for us at Bellini. Next to Thebes, Abydus was 
once the chief city of the Thebaid, but had fallen 
from her high estate as long ago as the Greek geo- 
grapher Strabo's time, about the commencement of the 
Christian era, The day was lovely, and a pleasant ride 
of three hours and a half, through corn and bean fields, 
all alive with buffaloes, camels, goats, and children 
perfectly naked and as brown as bricks — alternating 
with groves of majestic date-trees, each grove generally 

* Dec. 29. (Two days after we visited Siout.) " I noticed this 
morning on, or rather in, the bank on the east side, a heap of im- 
mense masonried stones, and discerned hieroglyphics on one or two 
with my telescope, but there was nothing to lead one to suppose 
there was anything further to tempt a traveller to land. I asked 
what was the name of the village ? 4 Gow el Kebir,' they said. 
So these were the last remnants (which will be swept away next 
summer) of the temple which, a few years ago, was said to be 
• perhaps the most picturesque on the banks of the Nile.' It was 
singularly appropriate to find that the extensive plain on which it 
stood (formed by a deep bay in the Mokattem range) is that on 
which the combat between Osiris and Typhon, the principles of 
good and evil, and which has been interpreted by many learned men 
to imply the contest between the Nile and the cultivated land, is 
fabled to have taken place." — Mr. Ramsay s Journal 



74 



ABYDUS. 



sheltering an Arab village, took us to the town and 
burial-place of Osiris, where the spouse of Isis was 
adored in his holiest character, and where Rameses the 
Second, the Grecian Sesostris, built himself a palace 
which it was our chief object to visit.* 

Threading a noble grove of date-trees, and passing 
the modern village, we found ourselves on the site of 
the ancient Abydus, mounds beyond mounds of ruins, 

* " Jan. 2. Our route from Girgeh lay through the rich vale of 
the Nile, studded with frequent villages under groves of dates and 
palms, — threading our way through fields of young wheat just 
preparing to sprout into the ear, rich clover on which the cattle, 
camels, and horses were grazing, tethered in lines to certain ranges, 
so that the field gradually disappeared, and was again producing 
another crop where they had first commenced it, — extensive fields 
of beans also, and the stubble of large sugar plantations. The 
large groups of the nearly naked, half-black, savage -looking beings 
reminded one of the drawings of the natives of the South Sea 
Islands. The young camels were gamboling about, and here and 
there an old and stiff one, instead of supporting its character for 
staid and solemn stateliness, might be seen, free from the control of 
pack-saddle or halter, capering before his astonished comrades, 
flying before the wind at full gallop, or playing such antics as the 
ungainly form Nature has assigned him might admit of." — Mr. 
Ramsay s Journal. 



" — The total herd receiving first from one 
That leads the dance a summons to be gay, 
Though wild their strange vagaries, and uncouth 
Their efforts, yet resolved with one consent 
To give such act and utterance as they may 
To ecstasy too big to be suppressed — 
These, and a thousand images of bliss, 
With which kind Nature graces every scene, 
Where cruel man defeats not her design, 
Impart to the benevolent, who wish 
All that are capable of pleasure pleased, 
A far superior happiness to theirs — 
The comfort of a reasonable joy." 



PALACE OF SESOSTRIS. 



covered with the drifted sand of the desert, — nothing 
visible above the soil ; think, then, of our astonishment 
and delight at coming suddenly on a lovely little lake, 
nestled in a hollow of the sandhills that form a sort of 
amphitheatre around it, girdled with graceful date-trees, 
and the doum, or Theban palm, with its fantastic head- 
gear, like a gay coquette by the side of a lovely single- 
hearted woman — of such the date -tree were a fit emblem. 
I cannot express to you the pleasure the discovery of 
this little loch gave me, and which will be as vivid years 
hence in recollection as when first it gleamed before 
me, " a vision of delight.' ' 

Antiquaries have been burrowing here, as elsewhere, 
and have found, 'tis said, treasures ; but, oddly enough, 
they seem to have left the palace untouched. It is 
almost covered with sand, so that a step or two lands 
you on the flat roof, which is in perfect preservation, 
built of enormous stones, some of them above twenty 
feet long. The interior also is choked with sand nearly 
to the capitals of the columns, and it is very fatiguing 
to explore it. It was near sunset, consequently we had 
not time for a thorough examination, but, creeping from 
one apartment into another, we clearly traced the ex- 
tent of the grand hall, a noble apartment, supported by 
pillars, and beautifully sculptured in every direction, 
roof, walls, pillars, with hieroglyphics: — two-thirds, at 
least, of it are buried in the sand. Every wall, every 
column, in Egyptian architecture, was painted ; the 
colours often remain as brilliant as if they had only 
been laid on yesterday. 

While William had found his way down into the hall, 
I descended to the extremity of the ruins, where I found 
two or three other chambers, all of them vaulted, that is 
to say, the span of the arch cut out of the single stones, 
of immense thickness, that form the roof; all but one 



76 



PEDIGREE OF SESOSTRJS. 



are choked up with sand; that one, after rejoining 
William, and visiting the hall with him, we proceeded 
to examine. Here we found the most beautiful bas- 
reliefs we have yet seen, more exquisitely delicate and 
highly finished than I could have imagined, — as fresh, 
too, as if finished yesterday, and yet more than three 
thousand years old, for Rameses succeeded to the throne 
of Egypt above one thousand three hundred years 
before our Saviour. The sculptures describing his 
eastern conquests are the most interesting historical 
documents yet discovered in Egypt, — those we shall see 
at Thebes ; these at Abydus are, I dare say, equally 
curious, though chiefly mythological. One of them, 
representing the sacred boat, we uncovered — it was 
lovely indeed, xlbove us, sculptured in the roof, we 
recognised a genealogical tablet, which we conclude to 
be that of the ancestors of Sesostris, discovered here 
some years ago by Mr. Bankes — a precious document 
for ancient Egyptian history.* 

Here, too, in the very sanctum of Sesostris — blissful 
moment! — I bought a papyrus — for about eighteen- 
pence English ! It is in very tolerable preservation, 
but very fragile, and no wonder, for it must be at least 
two thousand years old. 

* " It was formed of the ovals of hieroglyphics, which always 
imply some name, in a regular list, separated by stars. It was 
evidently a genealogical chart, and must be the one spoken of, but 
it is odd to call a vaulted roof a tablet. At the end we entered, the 
stones were ornamented with hieroglyphics in alto relievo, very 
protuberant and marked; on one side, the characters were those of 
the ordinary style, but on the other there was a specimen of a very 
superior style, which we deeply regretted our time did not permit 
us to clear away a little more. The ground was milk-white stone, 
and continued in the same-coloured stucco, over part of the darker 
stones forming the roof ; the drawings were executed with a deli- 
cacy, vigour, and beauty we had not yet seen, and in that particular 
manner which, it struck me, must be peculiar to sacred subjects. The 



BELLINI. 



The sun had gone down before we quitted Abydus — 
three hours' walk to Bellini ( 30 ) — no matter; it was a 
beautiful starlight night, — the path, however, was diffi- 
cult to keep, being only perceptible at a distance, 
like the blind road over a heath in Scotland, and we 
soon lost our way ; inquiring at a village, a man, after 
offering us hospitality for the night, volunteered to put 
us into the right road — not for bags/risk, but for love ; 
he walked some distance with us, smoking his pipe ; 
and we parted with friendly signs, though in silence- 
one of those little incidents that lend such a charm to 
daily life. One exchanges much courtesy of this sort 
here, talking by signs, a smile winding up each sen- 
timent, like the little fillip in talking with one's fingers. 
After reaching the river, we had some difficulty in 
finding the boat, till the cannon and pistols of those on 
board replying to our e-pistol-ary interrogations from 
the shore, we soon rejoined them. 

Kenneh, January 4, 1837. 

We intended visiting Dendera to-day, but having a 
fair wind, have written to Isis, "postponing that plea- 
sure," &c. &c, till our return. We have just been 
drinking coffee and smoking our pipes with a iolly old 
cock of an Arab, his Britannic Majesty's consular 

subject was not at first sight apparent, but I conjectured the 
various groups and objects above the sand to be all united, and 
form, perhaps, a boat or vessel, which, on having it a little cleared 
away, we found to be the case, — but I had no time to draw it, and 
it is impossible to describe the extraordinary forms. We are gene- 
rally inclined to attach an idea of sameness and rigidity to these 
hieroglyphical figures, and the poor specimens we have at home 
favour the idea ; but in regard to those we saw here, nothing could 
be more incorrect. Every figure was varied, and quite of a different 
character from the others." — Mr. Ramsay's Journal, 



78 



THEBES. 



agent here, who wanted us to dine with him, and 
accept his escort to Dendera — an honour which we 
had some difficulty in evading. On rising to depart, 
he mounted us on two superb donkeys, and sent a 
dwarf to escort us to the boat. 

I have no time for more, — we are ready to start. 
We are both well — -God bless my dear mother! 



LETTER VI. 

Sect. I. — Thebes. Temples— Sculptures — Tombs — Fulfilment of 
the Prophecies. 

Sect. II. — Esneh — Edfou — Essouan — Ascent of the Cataracts — 
Nubia — Wellee Kiashef— Wady Haifa — Descent of the Cataracts 
—Wreck, and detention at Essouan. 

Sect. HI.— Temples of Herment, Dendera, Ombos — Tombs of 
Benihassan — Memphis — Pyramids of Saccara and Dashour — 
Cairo. 

Section I. 

February 3, 1837. — Returning down the Nile. 

Far have we wandered, and much have we seen, 
dearest mother, during the last month and a half. We 
arrived at Thebes, glorious Thebes ! the day after I 
despatched my letter from Kenneh, and fired our 
cannon in triumph ; we always do so on reaching any 
place which forms an epoch in our voyage ; it asto- 
nishes the natives. We saluted a Turkish Kiashef, or 
governor, the other evening, as he left our boat, after 
dining and chatting with us for three hours ; the poor 
man tottered with astonishment, — he took it in very 
good part, however — more of him anon. 

Colonel Vyse, whose boat was moored alongside 



GOURNOU. 



79 



of ours, paid us a visit the evening we arrived at 
Thebes. He advised our taking advantage of the 
favourable wind, and proceeding direct to Nubia before 
it changed. It was impossible absolutely to turn our 
backs on Thebes without one glance at her, yet the 
advice was too just to be disregarded, and we there- 
fore took a hurried look only at the ruins, merely to 
familiarize ourselves with their plan; on our return 
we examined them minutely. But I will say now 
all that I think will interest you on the subject. 

For a glance at the principal objects, two days 
suffice ; the first we devoted to the western or Lybian 
suburb — for the Nile divides the city of Ammon into 
two portions, of which the eastern is the most con- 
siderable. Mounting, therefore, a couple of Arab 
steeds, we started for the ruins, Ali Massaoud, the 
guardiano, leading the way, with a long spear on his 
shoulder. 

We soon came in sight of 

" Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played," 

and his companion, and in about half an hour dis- 
mounted at Gournou, to visit the temple of Ammon, 
the Theban Jupiter, begun by Osirei, and finished, 
with the palace contiguous to it, by his illustrious son, 
itameses the Second. It is small comparatively, but 
very interesting, — the columns of the portico, lotus- 
stalks bound together, being evidently the prototype of 
the Doric. The eastern court was the hall of assembly 
of ancient Thebes. A royal palace was attached to 
most of the great temples ; the priests were equally 
well lodged in the lateral apartments. 

Do you remember the discovery struck out some 
years ago by Dr. Young, and perfected by Cham- 
pollion, of a hieroglyphical alphabet, by which they 



80 



MEMNON* 



were enabled to read the names of all the kings who 
have recorded themselves on the ancient monuments 
of Egypt? It is to this discovery that we now owe 
the exact knowledge when, and by whom, every temple 
was built and tomb excavated. This alphabet gives 
us no insight into the wisdom concealed under the 
abstmser hieroglyphics, yet we owe to it many gleams 
of history, not the least interesting of which is the 
confirmation of all that ancient historians have told 
us— so long discredited — of the glory of Sesostris ! 

Memnon's statue is indeed a marvel, — between fifty 
and sixty feet high, and originally of one block of 
stone, he fell asunder before our Saviour's time, but 
was rebuilt soon afterwards ; his companion is still 
entire, though the features are much defaced. The 
name of Memnon is a misnomer;* they represent 
Amunoph the Third, who flourished about a century 
before Sesostris. Hadrian and his ill-fated queen 
Sabina stood and gazed up at them just where we did,, 
and, among the numerous inscriptions that prove 
Memnon's identity, we read, with no small interest, 
the names of the Roman ladies who accompanied their 
imperial mistress, and heard (as an inscription which 
I could not find testifies) the "unseen melody" salute 
the ill-assorted pair twice, the morning they were there. 
And there they will sit, probably, to the end of time; 
looking down, in the same silent austere majesty, on 
pilgrims from lands unheard of when they were born — 
peoples even yet uninscribed in the muster-roll of 
nations. These statues marked the termination of 

* Corrupted from Mi-ammon, " the beloved of Amnion," the 
favourite title of Rameses the Great, confounded by the Greeks with 
the Memnon of Homer, and applied by them indifferently to all the 
Pharaohs so surnamed. See an interesting note, p. 9, of Wilfciu- 
son's " Topography of Thebes.'* 



MEMNONIUM. 



81 



a noble avenue, which led to the temple and palace of 
Amunoph, now levelled to the ground; two or three 
colossi, which once ornamented this grand approach, 
lie across it on their faces, half buried under the soil 
accumulated by successive inundations. 

The Memnonium, as the palace and temple of 
Sesostris are now misnamed, is indeed a noble ruin. 
The enormous granite statue of the monarch, over- 
thrown by Cambyses, lies on its face, prone as Dagon 
fell, the upper half split into two or three vast frag- 
ments, the lower shivered to atoms ; the workmanship 
is exquisite. He sat a little in advance of the temple, 
his hands on his knees, resting after his conquests. 
Judge of his stature by the breadth of his shoulders, 
twenty-two feet ! Not quite such a giant, either, as 
Gog Magog Mac Finn Mac Coull, whose mouth was 
eleven miles wide, his teeth ten miles square: 

" He wad upon his taes upstand, 
And take the stars doun with his hand, 
And set them in a gold garland 
To deck his wins hair." 

Near the colossus lie the neck and shoulders of another 
statue of Rameses, better known as that of "young 
Memnon," whose head Belzoni removed to England. 

I cannot express to you how delighted William and 
I have been with the historical sculptures that the 
temples of the age of Sesostris are adorned with. The 
battle-scenes on the Memnonium have reminded every 
traveller of Homer, and it is not unlikely, if he did visit 
Egypt, that he may have studied them, though in his 
sacred character of bard he must have witnessed many 
a noble melee — for blind, born-blind at least, he could 
not have been; Schlegel has convinced me of this, 
Anne's favourite critic and mine, since she introduced 
me to him. The sculptures, however, Homeric as they 

G 



82 



HISTORICAL SCULPTURES. 



are, remind me as much, or more, of the glowing war- 
imagery of the Prophets ; lend them the eyes, the ears 
of your imagination, and you have a the rattling of the 
wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping 
chariots , the shield of the mighty men is made red, 
the valiant men are dyed scarlet, the chariots rage in 
the streets — they justle one against another in the 
broad ways ; the horseman lifteth ujd the flame of the 
sword and the lightning of the spear, and there is a 
multitude of the slain, and a great number of carcases, 
and there is none end of their corpses — they stumble 
upon their corpses." The " horse and his rider" — the 
chariots of Pharaoh — all are pictured here, such as 
Moses beheld them.* 

But, after all, is not this resemblance of Homer and 
the Prophets to these sculptures and to each other very 
simply to be accounted for, -by the similar state of 
society that prevailed in the respective countries during 
the heroic ages ? " Antar" is in many passages as 
Homeric as the Iliad — for the same reason. We are 
apt to think of none but the heroic age of Homer, yet 
the world has never been wnthout an heroic age, acting 
on one of her hundred national stages. What the age 
of Antai was to the Saracens, of Camillus to the 
Romans, of Achilles to the Greeks, of Joshua to the 
Jews, of Rustum to the Persians — that of Sesostris was 
to the Egyptians. 

The magnificent hall of the Memnonium (you enter 
it between gigantic statues twenty feet high, their arms 
folded, tranquil and sublime in the consciousness, it 

* Mr. Ramsay's observations on the sculptures and paintings of 
Thebes, and of Egypt generally — scattered through his Journal — 
will be found collected together at the close of the first part or sec- 
tion of this letter ; they will thus be read somewhat in the order in 
which he would probably have arranged them himself. 



MEDINET HABOU. 



83 



would seem, of benevolence and power) opens into a 
smaller chamber, to me by far the most interesting as 
the repository once of the books of Thoth — the earliest 
library on record ! The ceiling is astronomical, and 
very interesting, as the date of Sesostris's reign is 
determined by it to b. c. 1322, the year from which the 
grand Canicular cycle of 1461 years, hieroglyphically 
veiled under the story of the Phoenix, began. On the 
northern wall of this library, Sesostris is represented 
seated under the Tree of Life, which overshadows him, 
while Ammon-re and Thoth, or Mercury, write his 
name on the leaves* — one of the many curious 
patriarchal memories preserved among the Egyptians. 

From the Memnonium we rode to the ruins at 
Medinet Habou— Medina Tabu, as it ought to be 
written — that is to say, the city Tabu — Thebes ; for 
Tapo, the Sanscrit, and Tape, the Coptic name, could 
only be accommodated to the Arab pronunciation by 
the substitution of b for p.\ We visited the smaller 
temple first; the area, gateway, and propylon you 
enter by, and the second area and propylon — addi- 
tions of yesterday, the former by the Ptolemies and 
Caesars, the latter by Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia, the 
rival of Sennacherib — introduce you to the original 
edifice, built by a nameless predecessor of the second 
and third Thothmes, who completed it rather more 
than one thousand five hundred years before our 
Saviour. The small sixteen-sided pillars in the oldest 
part of the building bear a still nearer resemblance to 
the Doric than those we observed at Gournou. 

* " Her leaf hath withered on the Tree of Life." 

Thalaba. — B. x, 26. And see note, 
t Tapovana, or Tabenna, is the name always given to Upper 
Egypt in the sacred books of the Hindoos.— Vide Wilford on Egypt 
and the Nile, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. 

G 2 



84 



PALACE OF RAMESES THE THIRD. 



The palace of Rameses the Third stands contiguous 
to the smaller, and to the south of the larger, temple. 
You ascend to it between two pavilions — porters' lodges 
probably — built in advance of the lofty towers ; but there 
are no menials now to hinder your intrusion into the 
most private apartments of the Pharaoh. In the 
sculptures of one of the upper rooms, the floor of which 
has fallen in, you see him, seated with his wife and 
daughters around him — 'tis like seeing their ghosts ! 

Beyond the palace, traversing a spacious area, two 
enormous pyramidal propyla (towers of entrance, that 
is to say — and I ought to have said it before — truncated, 
and connected by a curtain pierced with a doorway) 
introduce you into the great court of the temple, 
eclipsing all you have seen of previous grandeur. Do 
not expect architectural plans or descriptions from 
me — I have neither time nor patience for them — I 
will only say, that all I had anticipated of Egyptian 
magnificence fell short of the reality, and that it was 
here, surveying those Osiride pillars, that splendid 
corridor, with its massy circular columns, those walls 
lined, within and without, with historical sculptures of 
the deepest interest, the monarch's wars with the Eastern 
nations bordering on the Euphrates — study for months, 
years rather ! it was here, I say, here, where almost 
every peculiarity of Egyptian architecture is assembled 
in perfection, that I first learnt to appreciate the spirit 
of that extraordinary people, and to feel that, poetless 
as they were, they had a national genius, and had 
stamped it on the works of their hands, lasting as the 
Iliad. Willing slaves to the vilest superstition, bonds- 
men to form and circumstance, adepts in every 
mechanical art that can add luxury or comfort to 
human existence — yet triumphing abroad over the 
very Scythians, captives from every quarter of the globe 



PALACE OF R AMESES THE THIRD. 



85 



figuring m those long oblational processions to trie 
sacred shrines in which they delighted, after returning 
to their native Nile — that grave, austere, gloomy archi- 
tecture, sublime in outline and heavily elaborate in 
ornament, what a transcript was it of their character ! 
and where could Clio write their history so appro- 
priately as on the walls of their temples ? — And never 
were pages more graphic. The gathering, the march, the 
melee — the Pharaoh's prowess, standing erect, as he 
always does, in his car — no charioteer — the reins 
attached to his waist — the arrow drawn to his ear — his 
horses all fire, springing into the air like Pegasuses, — 
and then the agony of the dying, transfixed by his 
darts, the relaxed limbs of the slain — Homer's truth 
itself ; and, lastly, the triumphant return, the welcome 
home, and the offerings of thanksgiving to Amunre — the 
fire, the discrimination with which these ideas are 
bodied forth, they must be seen to judge of it. 

Here, on our first visit, we met Colonel Vyse, and ac- 
companied him to a place called Qoornet Murraee, to 
see the tomb of the elder brother of Amunoph the Third 
— the melodious Memnon. The entrance is a mere 
hole in the side of the hill ; we crept in on all fours, — 
though inferior in size and beauty to the tombs we 
afterwards visited, the paintings lend it the highest in- 
terest, representing the chiefs of Cush, or Ethiopia, 
bringing gold rings, (the money of those times,) skins, a 
cameleopard, &c, in tribute to Pharaoh. In an upper 
compartment, the sable queen of Ethiopia throned on 
her chariot, with the chattah, or umbrella of state, and 
a train of attendants carrying presents, pays a visit to 
the monarch of Egypt, — so attended must the Cushite 
queen of Sheba have approached King Solomon, and 
thus will " the kings of Tarshish and the Isles bring 
presents," " the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts" — 



86 



TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS. 



" the gold of Sheba," to " the King's son/' the " greater 
than Solomon," at Jerusalem. ( 31 ) 

After visiting another old temple called Deir el Bah- 
ree, at the very foot of the western mountains, which 
tower up majestically above it, we retraced our steps, 
and, climbing over the hills, descended into the Valley 
of the Tombs of the Kings by a narrow and precipitous 
ravine — not the regular approach, but far more impres- 
sive. The valley is desolation itself, long and winding, 
shut in by lofty rocks — not a trace of vegetation, — fit 
scene for the funeral processions of mighty Pharaohs — 
fit indeed for the last home of the extinct dynasties of a 
vanished nation ! They are temples rather than tombs, 
broad passages and gorgeous chambers opening one 
into another, till you find yourself in the lofty hall of 
the sarcophagus, terminating each. Some of them run 
three or four hundred feet into the heart of the moun- 
tain, a gradual slope figuring the descent into Amenti, 
the Egyptian Hades, or w r orld unseen. The most 
beautiful are those of the Pharaohs who reigned from 
Rameses the First, grandfather of Sesostris, to Rameses 
the Fifth, in whose reign Troy was taken, b. c. 1184, 
inclusive. A regular series of portraits of the Pharaohs 
might be taken from these tombs ; the likenesses are 
always exactly preserved.* 

The spoilers have been at work in Belzoni's tomb : it 
makes the heart ache and the cheek burn to see such 
wanton outrage ; one whole pillar (to say nothing of 
partial robberies, figures cut in two for the sake of a 
limb or an ornament) has been stript of its sculptures, 
and stands a melancholy wreck, naked and dazzlingly 

* Portraits of the Pharaohs, taken from these and similar remains, 
have been engraved in the great work of Professor RosselKni. [1847.] 



TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS. 



87 



white, amidst its companions, the chips all around it — 
tongues of reproach, that curse the hand that maimed it! 

But, in spite of all this sacrilege, wonderful, indeed, 
and brilliant is this tomb ; the great hall, where the sar- 
cophagus once stood, is rich beyond conception in 
hieroglyphics, sculptures, and general ornament; but 
the unfinished chamber beyond it, where you see the 
simple and beautiful outlines drawn for the sculptor to 
work upon, and corrected by the master's hand, .is, to 
a lover of the arts, by far the most interesting of the 
series. The whole is so fresh, and the drawing so 
beautiful, that you almost expect the return of the artist, 
and feel that it would be a shame to go without compli- 
menting him on his performance. He was embalmed 
three thousand years ago — for this was the tomb of 
Osirei, the father of Sesostris ! 

In Bruce's tomb — poor calumniated Bruce ! — (I felt 
more pleasure in visiting it for his sake than for the 
real owner's, Rameses the Third) — we saw the paintings 
of harps, copied and published by him, from which it 
has sometimes been called the " Harper's tomb," but 
shall not be so by me ; the harps are of the most elegant 
construction, and one of the performers seems to be 
damping the strings, just like a modern player. They 
are respectively of eleven strings and thirteen — or four- 
teen, I could not ascertain which. I have counted the 
harp- strings in almost every tomb ; there seems to have 
been no fixed number. I have seen also the five-stringed 
lyre, like that which Apollo played on among the 
Muses, the guitar, (exactly like the modern instrument, 
and held in the same manner,) a sort of mandoline, the 
double flute, &c. They kept time by clapping hands ; 
Herodotus mentions this, and our Arab-Egyptian sailors 
still practise it when singing in the evenings. 



88 



TOMB OP RAMESES THE THIRD. 



There are many other paintings in the side-chambers 
of Brace's tomb, of great interest, as illustrative of the 
manners and domestic life of the Egyptians ; in one 
you have the whole process of sowing and reaping, in 
another the mysteries of Egyptian cookery ; a third is 
a painted armory; in a fourth you see every descrip- 
tion of Egyptian furniture, to the full as elegant as that 
of Greece — arm-chairs like our own, and of the most 
inviting appearance, ottomans precisely like ours, steps 
for ascending to bed — at least exactly resembling those 
used in England for that purpose, and sofas, with 
crescents for the leg and neck to rest upon — luxurious 
appendages which Cowper had never heard of when 
he wrote the Task.* 

The tomb of Rameses the Fifth is peculiarly inter- 
esting, and Champollion has described it as a guide to 
the rest, the subjects represented in it being found in 
most of the other tombs, but not so detailed. The roof 
of the passage leading to the principal chamber is most 
richly painted, red and black, in the style of the Etruscan 
vases. The ceiling of the chamber of the sarcophagus 
is quite beautiful, and delightfully mystical, describing 
the procession of the Sun through the hours of the day 
and night — emblematical of the life and death, or post 
mortem pilgrimage of the terrestrial luminary, Pure, the 
Sun, or Pharaoh, of Egypt. The symbolical paintings 
are enclosed by the double body of Xith, the goddess of 
the firmament, prolonged, like the folds of a serpent, 
round the ceiling and through the middle of it, separat- 
ing the day from the night. In the east, Xith becomes 
the mother of the Sun, an infant, who is carefully placed 
in the bark, in which he descends the celestial river 

* Coloured engravings of all these will be found in Rossellini's 
work on Egypt. [1847.] 



TOMB OF RAMESES THE FIFTH. 



89 



with a large cortege of deities. Each hour of the day is 
marked by a globe — of the night by a star. They begin 
sounding at the seventh hour, and a pilot comes to steer 
them through the remaining hours of light, the river 
growing shallower and shallower, till, at the twelfth, the 
scene changes, and veering round in the great western 
lake into which the river empties itself, they commence 
their return eastward, through the hours of the night, 
towed by ropes up a branch of the celestial river, which 
terminates, like the main stream, in the western lake. 
The Sun is attended only by the pilot and one other 
deity during this nocturnal voyage. 

I am not sure that this description is precisely cor- 
rect, for the vault of this hall of mystery was too obscure 
for me to see as distinctly as I could have wished. 
Tablets of hieroglyphics are interspersed w 7 ith the sym- 
bolical paintings, describing, says Champollion, the 
celestial influences of each successive hour on the seve- 
ral parts of the human body. In a recess at the end of 
the hall, Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, stretches out her 
arms to receive the descending bark of the Sun. In 
similar paintings in other tombs, she is represented 
rising from the celestial Nile, the Oceanus of Homer. 
This mysterious imagery gives one an insight into the 
origin of the ancient Greek idea (first hinted at by 
Homer), that the Ocean was a river encircling the Earth, 
into which the Sun descended in the west, and sailed 
round to his starting-place in the east every night. 

But the information we can gather from these paint- 
ings, as to the religious opinions of the Egyptians, is 
still more interesting. The doctrines of a future state, 
of judgment after death, and of rewards and punish- 
ments, are invariable subjects of representation; in one 
instance, a condemned soul is carried aw 7 ay in the shape 
of a sow, and the word gluttony is written over it to ex 



90 EGYPTIAN DOCTRINES. 

plain his crime; this is probably emblematical only, 
but it looks like the ancient Oriental doctrine of trans- 
migration, which Pythagoras is supposed to have picked 
up in Egypt. The punishments of the bad are frequently 
depicted, and the rewards of the good, who swim and 
sport like fish in the celestial Nile — " the river of the 
w r aters of life." 

But, amidst these gleams of traditional truth, " every 
form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all 
the idols of the house of Israel, are portrayed upon 
the wall round about," in these dark chambers of 
imagery, just as Ezekiel beheld them in the temple at 
Jerusalem. Serpents of the most extraordinary forms 
are seen in every direction — short, thick, and hooded, 
or long and tapering — the latter often carried in long 
mystical procession, human heads surmounting their 
own, or female heads growing, as it w T ere, on their 
backs, between each bearer. Belzoni's tomb is rich in 
serpents; I saw there a beautiful winged snake, with 
three heads and four human legs ; others had a head at 
each extremity, crowned with the corn-measure and 
mitre, the body, curving downwards, supported by four 
human legs, two looking each way ; others with four or 
five legs respectively On each side of the descent to 
the sepulchral chamber of Rameses V. is a most mag- 
nificent snake with vulture's wings. How Holden, 
Faber, and those other excellent men who have written 
so ably and convincingly in proof of the literal fall in 
Paradise through the wiles of the serpent, arguing, 
among other proofs, from the universality of serpent- 
worship, would have been interested with a sight of 
them! Every step I took reminded me of some inci- 
dent in Indian or Grecian mythology, and convinced 
me more and more that every system, eastern or 
western, is intimately connected in its origin — primi- 



PROPHECY OF ISAIAH. 



91 



tive revelation and patriarchal tradition, more or less 
corrupted. One subject, frequently repeated in these 
tombs, forcibly struck me — the eventual conquest of 
the great serpent, Apophis, by the gods, who transfix 
him with daggers, and bind him, head and foot, with 
ropes ; it was impossible not to think of the prophecies. 

What a commentary are these tombs on that most 
sublime passage of Isaiah, in which Hades, the world 
unseen, personified, is represented as stirring up the 
mighty dead, all the kings of the nations, from the 
thrones on which " they lie in glory, each in his own 
sepulchre," to behold the corpse of Belshazzar, cast 
forth at the mouth of their long home, unburied, 
trodden under foot, and dishonoured: — 

" Art thou also become weak as we ? art thou made 
like unto us ? 

" Is thy pride brought down to the grave, and the 
sound of thy viols ? Is the worm spread under thee, 
and doth the earth-worm cover thee ? 

" How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of 
the morning ! — art cut down to the earth, thou that sub- 
duedst the nations ! 

" Yet thou hast said in thine heart, i I will ascend 
into heaven, above the stars of God I will exalt my 
throne ; I will sit on the Mount of Congregation on the 
sides of the North ; ( 32 ) I will ascend above the heights 
of the clouds ; I will be like the Most High ! ' 

" But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the 
sides of the pit ! 

" They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee 
and consider thee — 6 Is this the man that made the 
earth tremble, that did shake kingdoms ? 

%t c That made the world as a wilderness, and de- 
stroyed the cities thereof? that opened not the house of 
his prisoners ? ' 



92 



PRIVATE TOMBS OF 



" All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie down 
in glory, each in his own sepulchre : 

" But thou art cast out of the grave, like an abo- 
minable branch, and as the raiment of those that are 
slain, thrust through with a sword, — that go down to 
the stones of the pit, — as a carcass trodden under 
foot!" 

In front of the tomb of Amunoph's brother I saw a 
mummy that once possibly was his, and wore a crown, 
rifled of its cerements, black and bent double, peering, 
like a creature of life, over the brow of the hill, as if it 
watched my motions ; an Arab pushed it with his foot — 
it fell on its side, and the back broke, — and there it 
lay, " a carcass trodden under foot," soon to be re- 
dissolved into the elements that human art had so 
many ages defrauded of their prey. " Was this the 
man that made the earth tremble, that shook king- 
doms ? " A Pharaoh probably, T could have fancied 
him Belshazzar; at all events, the miserable epitome 
at my feet had been a man three thousand years before 
me. Hamlet might have moralized there for hours, but 
we have a brighter hope — - 

u Why should this worthless tenement endure, 

If its undying guest be lost for ever ? 
Oh ! let us keep the soul embalmed and pure 

In living virtue, that, when both must sever, 
Although corruption may our frame consume, 
The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom !"* 

How often, rambling over the ruins of Thebes, has 
that noble poem sung itself to me ! 

But why should the kings' tombs engross all my 
praise ? Gorgeous as they are, and interesting for the 
study of ancient mythology, those of the private The- 

* From the Address to the Mummy in Belzoni's exhibition by 
Delta, D. M. Moir, Esq. 



THE THEBANS. 



93 



bans are yet more so for the history of manners and 
daily life among the old Egyptians. Every light and 
shadow, indeed, of human life, is portrayed in them, 
from the laughter of the feast to the tears of the 
funeral — ointments poured on the head at the one, 
dust heaped on it at the other. You see on one side 
the arrival of the guest in his chariot, white horses and 
a train of running footmen betokening his conse- 
quence ; the other guests, already assembled and 
seated, the men apart from the women, wait for their 
dinner, and beguile the intervening moments with 
smelling the lotus-flower, and listening to the music of 
the dancing-girls. The master of the house and his 
wife, richly dressed, and lovingly seated side by side, 
preside at the entertainment. But the picture would 
be incomplete without side-views of the shambles and 
the kitchen, and a beggar at the gate, receiving a bull's 
head and a draught of water from one of the menials. 
Facing this, on the opposite wall, the mourning-women, 
with wailing cries and dishevelled hair, precede the 
coffin that bears the hospitable Egyptian to his long- 
home ; the wife or the sister walks beside it, silent in 
her sorrow ; a scribe takes account of the dead man's 
riches, his cattle, his horses, his household chattels: 
Death — and then the Judgment: — the deceased is 
ushered into Amenti; Horus and Aroeres weigh his 
merits against the ostrich-feather, the symbol of Truth;* 
Thoth, the god of letters, presents a scroll, the record 
of his thoughts, words, and works, to the Judge Osiris, 
into whose presence he is at length admitted on the 
favourable result of the scrutiny. Sad presumption for 
man thus to usurp his Creator's prerogative of reading 
and judging the heart ! 

* " The good actions are weighed in the grand balance against a 
feather — a fine idea." — Mr. Ramsay s Journal. 



94 



TOMB OF THE ROYAL SCRIBE. 



And amidst all these varied scenes, as if to show how 
narrowly joy may be partitioned off from sorrow, how 
the merry-hearted and the broken-hearted may un- 
consciously pillow within an inch of each other, and 
how the world jogs on in daily routine, indifferent to 
the feelings of either — the occupations of every-day 
life are pictured in their minutest details around you— 
scenes of industry, scenes of frolic, parties pledging 
each other's healths, young folks dancing to the music 
of the harp, husbandmen in the fields, artificers of every 
trade at their w r ork, (many of them with tools precisely 
like those now in use,) carpenters, smiths, glass-blowers, 
shoemakers, wheelwrights, statuaries, idol-makers— I 
saw a god under the graver's hand, and thought of 
Isaiah's noble apostrophe, which Sir Frederick Pollock, 
you may remember, read so beautifully that delightful 
evening he spent at Haigh last summer. The illustra- 
tion was perfect. 

But of all the Egyptian tombs, scarcely any in- 
terested me so much as one I visited at Eilethyise 
above Thebes. Life on the one wall — Death was pic- 
tured on the other ; to the left, rural occupations, 
ploughing, sowing, reaping, and gathering into barns— 
the vigour of the year and of human life ; the owner 
and his wife, lovingly embracing each other, entertain 
their friends with the fruits of their labour; servants 
are in attendance, young men and maidens — the heyday 
of youth and riches ; to the right he stands erect, but 
stiff and lifeless — the embalmer extracts his brain with 
a long crooked instrument,* preparatory to filling the 
skull with aromatics and spices ; that work over, the 
coffin is borne in solemn procession ; a figure, muffled 
up and shapeless — his wife (she was embracing his 

* See Herodotus, book ii, chapter 86. 



THEBAN TOMBS, 



95 



tnees five minutes ago) — is drawn on a sledge in front 
of it; the sacred boat of the dead, two obelisks, and 
two trees like cypresses — Horace's lines came across 
me, as I gazed on them, with an indescribable feeling 
of melancholy, — 

" Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens 
Uxor, neque harum, quas colis, arborum 
Te, praeter invisas cupressus, 

Ulla brevem dominum sequetur ! M 

" Thy lands, thy home, the wife of thy bosom — all 
must be relinquished ; nor of these trees that thou cul- 
„ tivatest will any, save the hateful cypress, accompany 
their short-lived lord ! " 

In another tomb at Eilethyiae you see the father 
dandling his child, and the lady's pet monkey tied to 
her chair.* In the tomb of one of the royal scribes at 

* " 3rd Feb. We went to see the grottoes of Eilethyiae, which 
lie on the east bank, about a mile and a half inland. On the way, 
we came upon the walls of the ancient town, which are of crude 
brick, about thirty feet high and twenty thick, and in a very perfect 
state, the square openings for the gates in the middle of each side of 
the square being quite preserved ; they enclose an area a mile long, 
and three quarters of a mile broad. The interior is flat and bare, 
except to the west, where a range of high mounds evidently conceals 
what remains of the ancient town. What its antiquity may be, I 
do not know. The grottoes are behind it. They are chiefly tombs, 
of tolerable size, dug out of the mountain -face, and extending some 
distance in. They are in general in a ruined state. The pits for 
the mummies are very apparent in some, and they have evidently 
been all ransacked and sacked by previous travellers and speculators. 
About six or eight of them contain designs on the walls, in a tole- 
rably perfect state, of which three are highly interesting. They 
contain drawings, very well done, of the whole life of the individuals 
of whom they treat. One gentleman, who was a proprietor of boats 
on the river, then governor of the government shipping, and, lastly, 
an officer in different wars under Thothmes, has a very curious 
tomb ; and next to him lay a priest of the goddess presiding here. 
The history begins from childhood. The principal figures are the 
person and his wife, seated together on a chair, under which is a 



96 



THE ROYAL SCRIBE. 



Thebes, the young princess of Egypt, Amunoph the 
Third's daughter, whose tutor he had been, sits on his 
knees, as little Minnie might on mine, and playfully 
puts the lotus flower to his nose. It is nonsense limit- 
ing our sympathies by time and space— 

" A heart has throbbed beneath the leathern breast, 
And tears adown the dusky cheek have rolled" — 

pet monkey ; they appear to be on loving terms, and are entertain- 
ing a party of friends, who sit opposite a large collection of dainties ; 
pages pour water on their hands, present them with lotus-leaves, 
&c. Behind are all the preparations, — the butchers are killing and 
cutting up the oxen (very well executed) — the process of cooking 
goes on- — the guests come over the river in boats. In another part, 
the proprietor comes in his car to superintend all his rural affairs ; 
ploughing, sowing, reaping, thrashing, stowing, and weighing the 
corn, and selling it for money in rings, and everything connected 
with agriciriture, are minutely represented. The songs of the dif- 
ferent occupations are written above, and Champollion has read 
them, he says. Droves of oxen, donkeys, sheep, &c, very spiritedly 
done, are brought up to scribes, who register them. The similarity, 
and, in many instances, identity of things in common use with those 
used now in this country is very striking. The filtering water-jars, 
and their wooden stands, are the very same; the plough is the 
same, and the head-dress also. In one place boats are represented, 
some sailing, others being rowed, and others getting mended, or 
being charged or emptied. Our sailors were in raptures with them, 
and found out their own likenesses in the crew. The sail used was 
a very strange one. Again, they are drawing large nets for wild- 
geese, which are no sooner caught than plucked, dressed, and served 
up. The funeral is a very conspicuous part. In some the process 
of embalming is shown very clearly, The body was placed on a 
bier, resting on a sledge, to which a long cord was attached, the end 
of which was fastened to a cow, and all the mourners had a hold of 
it. In some the preparations and sport of hunting are represented. 
These tombs are of the period of the eighteenth dynasty — about 
3300 years ago ; the colours are as fresh as ever, and, except where 
the people who, probably, live in them at times, or strangers have 
broken them down, they are not in the least the worse for their 
longevity. The precision with which the dates of all these places 
is determined is quite clear ; they have the dates inscribed, even to 
the day and month, in general." — Mr, Ramsay s Journal. 



LUXOR. 



97 



and children have " climbed the knees and kissed the 
face" of every mummy that we trample on, scarcely 
regarding it as the sacred relic of humanity it really is. 
Human nature was the same then as now; she has 
oscillated between smiles and tears ever since Adam's 
fall — and philosophers may say what they please, but 
I will defy the most callous of them to visit these 
tombs, and deny that man may sympathize with man, 
his elder by half the world's age. 

The largest of all these Theban tombs is the least 
interesting, except from its immense extent, ramifying 
over more than an acre of ground — exceeding that of 
any of the royal sepulchres. A priest, named Petamun- 
ap, excavated it for himself, and probably his family, 
quite recently — in the seventh century b. c. It is 
blackened with smoke and dirt; the bats flew past in 
swarms, as we intruded on their dusky domains ; the 
descent to the lower range of excavations was like the 
mouth of Hades itself — I never plunged into a place so 
dreary. 

So much for Western Thebes. You may well 
imagine it took us some days to examine all the places 
I have described. We visited the temples the first day 
of our first visit, and some of the principal tombs, and 
a day of delight it was. Colonel Vyse sailed for Cairo 
the moment we reached Gournou, where the boats 
were moored; we saluted him with our cannon, and 
then crossed to the other side of the river. 

The next morning we visited the temples of Luxor 
and Carnac. The former is a most magnificent pile, 
architecturally considered, but otherwise the least inte- 
resting of the four great temples of Thebes. You 
originally entered between four gigantic statues of 
Rameses the Great, and two superb obelisks, of which 
one only remains — the French have earned off his 



98 



CARNAC. 



brother, and every lover of antiquity must regret their 
separation. The obelisks, statues, and pyramidal 
towers were additions by Rameses to the original 
edifice, founded by Amunoph the Third. 

From the propyla and obelisks of this temple, an 
avenue, guarded by sphinxes, facing each other, ex- 
tended northwards to the great temple of Jupiter 
Ammon at Carnac, meeting it at right angles, the latter 
extending from west to east. The road we followed 
lay nearer the river, and led us through a comparatively 
small temple of Isis, which would have detained us 
longer in a less attractive neighbourhood, into the 
great court of Jupiter Amnion's temple, the noblest 
ruin at Thebes. A stupendous colonnade, of which 
one pillar only remains erect, once extended across 
this court, connecting the western propylon or gate of 
entrance built by Sesostris, with that at its eastern 
extremity, leading to the grand Hall of Osirei and the 
sanctuary. We ascended the former; — the avenue of 
sphinxes, through which the god returned, in solemn 
procession, to his shrine at Carnac, after his annual 
visit to the Libyan suburb, ascends to it from the river, 
■ — the same avenue traversed age after age by the con- 
queror, the poet, the historian, the lawgiver, the phi- 
losopher — Sesostris, Cambyses, Homer, Herodotus, 
Thales, Anaxagoras, Solon, Pythagoras, Plato— and 
now the melancholy song of an Arab boy was the only 
sound that broke the silence; but that poor boy was 
the representative of an older and a nobler race than 
the Pharaohs. 

Long did we gaze on the scene around and below us 
— utter, awful desolation! Truly, indeed, has No been 
" rent asunder !" The towers of the second or eastern 
propylon are mere heaps of stones, " poured down" — 
as prophecy and modern travellers describe the founda- 



TEMPLE OF CARNAC. 



99 



tions of Samaria — into the court on one side, and 
the great hall on the other, — giant columns have been 
swept away like reeds before the mighty avalanche, 
and one hardly misses them. And that hall, who could 
describe it? Its dimensions, 170 feet by 329, — the 
height of the central avenue of columns 66 feet, exclu- 
sive of their pedestals, — the total number of columns 
that supported its roof 134, — these particulars may 
give you some idea of its extent; but of its grandeur 
and beauty — none. Every column is sculptured, and 
all have been richly painted. The exterior walls, too, 
are a sculptured history of the wars of Osirei and Ra 
meses.* How often I longed for James and Anne, 

* Of the historical sculptures, " I was most pleased with those on 
the Northern wall of the Great Hall, — they detail the wars of Osirei 
with the Rot-n-no, or Lydians, in the first year of his reign, and 
his offerings to Amunre on returning from conquest ; on his return 
he passes through various countries, one of which, Kanana (Canaan) 
offers opposition, — they are routed, however. Another compartment 
details a war with the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon (Limanon) ; 
the fugitives hide themselves among trees, which we may suppose to 
be cedars, and express their humiliation by throwing dust on their 
heads. Osirei is always represented alone in his chariot, — on one of 
the figures representing him so, the paint is still visible, his flesh 
red, his hair, or wig, blue — it came off on applying my wet finger 
to it — having been exposed to the weather for three thousand years. 
The sculptures on the West wall describe the wars of Rameses — the 
most interesting group in this quarter is that representing the 
prisoners brought by Shishak from Jerusalem on the right of the 
portal by which you enter the Great Court from the temple of Isis," 
— Orig. Journal. 

The words Rot-n-no and Ludin or Ludim, I may observe, are the 
same, R and L, D and T, being interchangeable letters. Rossellini, in 
fact, reads Ludin. The name seems to have extended over the whole 
of the country west of the Euphrates. Our first historical knowledge 
of Lydia is at a much later period. — Are not the Shairetana of Wil- 
kinson the Carians ? Kh and Sh are interchangeable, and this 
would account, inter alia, for their wearing crests, — see the " Man- 
ners and Customs " &c, vol. i, p. 336. [1847.] 

H2 



100 



TEMPLE OF CARNAC. 



while examining these noble designs ! Except those I 
shall presently mention at Beit Wellee, I have seen 
nothing in Egypt that would interest them so much. 
In one corner, of especial interest, are represented the 
Jews captured by Shishak, and their king Rehoboam, 
with the hieroglyphic inscription " Jehouda Meiek," 
" the king of the Jews." This is the only reference to 
the Israelites found in Egyptian sculpture ; many have 
wondered at finding no allusions to their residence in 
Egypt, but I think without cause; for, except the pyra- 
mids, the tombs in their vicinity, those of Beni Hassan, 
and a few other remains of but little interest, I do not 
believe that any monuments exist coeval with Moses 
and the Exodus.* 

Two large boats ornament one of the outer walls of 
the great hall ; these sacred arks are sculptured in every 
temple — reminiscences, evidently, like the Argo of the 
Greeks, the Argha of the Hindoos, &c, of Noah's. It 
is very curious that Baris, the old Egyptian word for 
them, is mentioned by Nicholaus Damascenus, a peri- 
patetic of Augustus's time, as the name of the mountain 
on which the patriarch's bark rested. 

Passing two or three propyla and two lovely obelisks, 
each mourning a prostrate brother, — (the larger — it is 
sweet to think of it— dedicated by Amense to the 
memory of her father Thothmes I. 3400 yeai's ago, yet 
the hieroglyphics are as sharp as if cut yesterday,) — 
two small granite pillars, ornamented with lotus-stalk 

* According to Dr. Hales' rectified Chronology, the Exodus took 
place b. c. 1648, the birth of Moses, b. c. 1723, and the settlement 
of Jacob and his family in Goshen, b, c. 1863. — May I be permitted 
to suggest that, in calculating the reigns of the very early Egyptian 
kings, allowance should be made for the greater longevity of those 
times ; and that the restitution of the seven hundred years abstracted 
in the common Bible Chronology from the generations of the post- 
diluvian patriarchs, will amply justify such an extension. 



* 



CA.RNAC. 



10! 



and blossom, the remains of the ancient portal, introduce 
you to the sanctuary — not the original edifice, for that 
was destroyed by Cambyses, but the restoration by 
Philip Aridseus, brother of Alexander the Great. 
Beyond it are the remains of the small polygonal 
columns erected by the Pharaoh Osirtesen, the oldest 
in this temple, indeed in all Thebes. It is curious to 
trace at a glance the progress of Egyptian architecture 
from these diminutive columns to the stupendous 
pillars of Osieri. Many other halls and buildings, 
almost buried under the accumulated soil, extend as 
far as an unfinished propylon, commenced by the 
Ptolemies, which closes the eastern appendages to the 
temple. 

Returning to the great obelisk, and seating myself 
on the broken shaft of its prostrate companion, I spent 
some most interesting moments in musing over the 
scene of ruins scattered around me, so visibly smitten 
by the hand of God in fulfilment of the prophecies that 
describe No-Ammon as the scene of desolation I then 
beheld her. The hand of the true Jove Ammon, Ael- 
Amunah, the God of Truth, has indeed 66 executed 
judgment on all the gods of Egypt," but especially on 
his spurious representative, the idol of this most stu- 
pendous of earthly temples ; silence reigns in its courts; 
the "multitude of No" has been cut off; Pathros is 
"desolate;" the land of Ham is still "the basest of 
kingdoms," — so sure is the word of prophecy, so visible 
its accomplishment! 

But, oh ! that obelisk is lovely ! — yet ten times dearer 
to me than ever mere loveliness could make it; temples 
and palaces have been crumbling into dust, dynasties 
and nations vanishing around it, yet there it stands, 
pointing to heaven in its meek beauty, the record of a 
daughter's love — love strong as death — stronger, for it 



109 



CARNAC. 



has triumphed. Time, surely, read the inscription, and 
| ould not find it in his heart to strike. 

Or might not one fancy, rather, that when earth cried 
out to heaven for vengeance on Thebes, and the Lord 
came down, as he had threatened, xo "rend No asunder," 
he planted a guard of angels round this monument of 
filial piety, to shield it in the storm — to protect it 
against the indiscriminating zeal of the ministers he 
had commissioned to destroy? 

And is not the same record of filial love written by 
the Spirit on the heart of every Christian, and when 
" the Lord our Righteousness" comes down in his glory 
to take vengeance on his enemies, and on "all the 
people that forget God" — spiritual Babel and spiritual 
Egypt — will he not then encircle with his angels the 
faithful few on whose hearts he reads that blessed 
inscription, and, amid the crash of empires, and the 
wreck of all that this world esteems most excellent and 
glorious, strengthen their hearts, and stablish their feet, 
and cheer them with the smile of his love ? 

Meditation "might think down hours to moments" 
among the ruins of Carnac. 

We returned to Luxor through the four propyla, 
successively built across the avenue that connects the 
two temples, lined with sphinxes, massive and mutilated, 
yet singularly beautiful in design and execution; the 
face of one that we discovered in a cross avenue near 
the lake is very lovely, — a little girl's, evidently — the 
cheek as soft and rounded as dear little Mayflower's. 
We started that same evening. For this fytte adieu !*( 33 ) 

* Remarks by Mr. Ramsay on the Theban Sculptures. Battle- 
pieces at Carnac. — " There is extreme spirit and boldness in the 
execution, and the story is told most distinctly and plainly. Though 
modern artists might have more correct ideas of perspective and 
true proportions, yet I doubt if any of them, following those rules, 



TEMPLE OF ESNEH. 



103 



Section II. 

I will be brief, my dear mother, in my description of 
the temples of Esneh and Edfou, which we visited e?i 
route for Essouan; the names of both are Egyptian, 
and have survived the comparatively modern Greek 
appellations of Latapolis and Apollinopolis Magna. 

could so clearly represent in the same space the subjects contained 
in these. The liberty used by the sculptor, of giving you ground- 
plans, or elevations, or both, as it suits his purpose, is undoubtedly 
contrary to all just rules of drawing; but one's eye soon accustoms 
itself and ceases to be offended, while the story is told with much 
greater facility and correctness." 

Sculptures at Medinet Habou. " It is difficult to analyze one's 
feelings with regard to these drawings ; except in the hieroglyphical 
representations of animals, (which are perfect,} nothing is critically 
correct ; you confess that the drawing of everything is most faulty, 
but yet the soul and fire, the animation and expression in the figures, 
is most wonderful ! A lion wounded, for example, strikes you as the 
most admirably expressive and living thing ever drawn ; but look 
again, and though the idea of a lion in agony and rage has been 
most forcibly represented to your mind, yet there is not a single line 
of the lion critically correct." 

" In a neighbouring tomb to the first we saw at Qoornet Murraee, 
a group of oxen is splendidly drawn. I don't think I ever saw finer 
execution ; the rules of perspective are quite observed ; the gambols 
of the calves in every possible position, and the free touch and taste 
of the whole, are admirable. Xear them are a few which have been 
fatted, for show, I suppose — not less beautifully done. It is thus in 
almost all of the tombs ; here and there, amidst the common work of 
routine of professed painters, a master hand has been called in to 
clash off a few groups. In one it was particularly evident — two 
groups were unfinished in the middle of a series of the usual repre- 
sentations of a funeral — they were merely sketched in w T ith red paint, 
but with a vigour and correctness of proportion which would have 
done honour to Raphael." 

" The grand Entrance-Hall is the place which stamps Carnac as 
the first architectural remain in the world. Ammon had indeed 
a magnificent temple for his worship. The varied style of the 
columns is interesting; some are as old as Joseph's time. On the 



104 



TEMPLE OF ESXEH. 



Of the former, dedicated to Kneph by the early 
Caesars, the beautiful portico only remains; fresh from 
Thebes, we little expected to view it with the admiration 
it excited. The features are so grand, and the general 
effect so sublime, that one almost forgets the modern 
mud walls which divide it into two unequal parts, and 
intercept the light so much that we looked in vain for 

last propylon towards Luxor are the torsos of two lovely statues, 
perhaps twenty-five or thirty feet high ; they are much mutilated 
and have no heads, but what remains of their sculpture and contour 
is beautifully graceful, and yet m the Egyptian style, arms close to 
the sides, and left foot advanced. The priests seem to have employed 
real master geniuses, but to have confined them to certain fixed forms, 
at least in the human figure ; for where they are freed from these 
shackles, as in the animals in the phonetic hieroglyphics, nothing 
can surpass the execution of the drawing, as well as the finishing. 
Hundreds of sphinxes, statues, and figures of all sorts, are lying about 
this grand approach. One sphinx, in particular, made a great im- 
pression on me : they say all sphinxes are male, but the features of 
a really sweet, pretty girl, could not be mistaken ; and though her 
nose, part of her mouth, and chin were gone, yet one hardly missed 
them, what remained w 7 as so pretty and elegant. One pitied the poor 
tiling being tacked to such an uncouth body as that of a sphinx, and 
obliged to sit in line w r ith a hundred uninteresting fellows for ever, 
as it were fascinated down by the wand of some ancient magician." 

" Off Luxor. We have revisited the temple here, and walked as 
far as Carnac, wdrich is certainly the most stupendous thing con- 
ceivable. Everything else sinks into perfect insignificance in the 
comparison. But we could only give a hurried glance before the 
sun set. We revisited the crowds of sphinxes and broken statues 
on the grand southern approach. — There is a great deal that is 
uncouth and unskilful, the effect of which is only to be estimated by 
their situation as parts of a grand whole, and the constrained stiffness 
of which must be explained and excused by the despotic influence of 
form and custom in religious matters, studiously inculcated and 
preserved by the priests ; but there are among them forms of eternal 
beauty, such as remain henceforth part and parcel of one's mind — 
pure and clear as truth — no mystery, no mere symbol of mystical 
priestcraft, but a bright embodying of the soul of genius, which 
speaks from mind to mind at the interval of three thousand vears." 



TEMPLE OF ESNEH. 



105 



the zodiacs sculptured on the ceiling between the walls 
and the last row of pillars at each extremity. Nothing 
would offend the critical eye, were the capitals more 
uniform ; they are variations of the lotus-leaf, and all 
individually beautiful ; the sculptures and hieroglyphics 
reveal the decadence of Egyptian architecture, but, on 
the other hand, the columns are of juster proportions 
and more regular distribution than any we have yet 
seen.* 

The temple of Edfou (delightful was our walk to it 

* " The pillars, twenty-four in number, are magnificent. They 
are straighter and more classical-looking than any we have yet seen, 
somehow or other reminding one of the Pantheon at Rome, one 
hardly knows why ; for, except the absence of the usual enormous 
swell of the pillars, they retain all the characteristics of the 
Egyptian style, and are, to my mind, the most beautiful we have yet 
seen, as well from their regularity and beautiful proportions, as from 
the majestic elegance of the capitals, so different from anything 
Grecian! But nothing could be finer; though these pillars be pon- 
derous, they are by no means heavy; there is nothing which offends 
the eye, all is in character and keeping. The fact of being reminded 
of the Pantheon, however inexplicable, makes me feel certain that 
the same mind which gave birth to the one style had influence in the 
formation of the other. People derive Grecian architecture from 
the Egyptian, and there is no doubt they drew much of their science 
and wisdom from this country ; but that the Egyptian is the coarse 
rough attempt of beginners at an art afterwards improved and 
brought to perfection in Greece, is too much to say ; for two dif- 
ferent lines have been pursued, and superlative excellence has been 
reached in both, as this portico at Esneh proves. If v.e look solely 
to Egypt for the origin of Grecian architecture, we may easily talk 
of cutting down and paring away, and thus this style of Esneh, of 
the largest pillars at Carnac, Luxor, &c, will merge into the Corin- 
thian, and the other style used here into the Doric ; but it appears 
to me absurd to slice off, for the sake of argument or supporting a 
theory, the most essential and peculiar features of a particular style. 
Why, one might pare every upright thing in the world down to the 
Doric, as it is the simplest of all — may we not for this very reason 
suppose that it is the earliest, or, at least, original?" — Mr. Ramsay s 
Journal* 



106 



EDFOU. 



through fields of the beautiful castor-oil p"!ant, of cotton, 
Indian corn rustling in the breeze, and groves of date- 
trees,) is quite perfect — not a stone displaced, and an 
Arab village is built on the roof. And no wonder — it 
was built only yesterday. Antiquity, in our enlarged 
ideas, ends with the reign of Rarneses the Fifth, the 
contemporary of Hector and Achilles. We had a 
hearty laugh the other day at the expression " stupen- 
dous antiquity" being applied to a pitiful infancy of 
nine hundred years. The propyla, dromos, or court, 
portico, and cella, are richly ornamented with sculptures 
and hieroglyphics ; but it is the general effect, the dis- 
tribution, the proportions of this temple, its perfect 
state of preservation, and the grandeur of its outline, 
that render it so interesting; the details are of inferior 
execution. The court is choked with Arab huts, and 
from the top of the propylon you have a curious view 
of the town beneath, like an enormous honeycomb, mud 
cells, for the most part roofless, with a single minaret 
towering above them — our Reis had gone there to 
pray.* 

* " Edfou, Jan. 9. The fields were looking very beautiful ; the 
system of irrigation is carried on to an immense extent here, it is 
everything ; at every short distance, one sees the water raised from 
the Nile by men, who hand it up in buckets one to another, into 
little tanks, till it reaches the top, when it runs down the channels 
formed for it. There is one great channel which branches off into 
smaller ones, and these again into smaller, till at last it enters the 
small fields or plots, generally about ten feet square, where it spreads 
and remains, each little plot being enclosed by raised banks, on which 
the channels run ; when one plot is watered, the entrance for the 
water is closed with a lump of earth, and the water passes on to the 
next ; when the whole of one division has received its share, the con- 
nexion with the grand passage is stopped, and so on. The squares 
are all very neatly and carefully kept, and, in fact, in this irrigation 
consists the whole system of husbandry. A plough, I suppose, is 
never used ; all the land iequires is a rough breaking up with a hoe 



EDFOU. 



* 107 



We saw some ostriches near Esneh, others since — • 
they are numerousin the Eastern desert; crocodiles, too, 
in abundance — William fires at them sometimes ; the 
young ones flounce into the water in an awful fright, the 
old ones look astonished at our impudence, and then 
sink down with more regard to their dignity, but still 
it is a very clumsy operation. Of the other " venomous 
creatures bred in this river, as scorpions, water-snakes, 
grievous misshapen worms, and other monstrous things, 
which," according to old Lithgow, " often annoy the in- 
habitants and those who traffic on the water," I can give 
you no account. 

The colour of the natives waxed darker and darker 
as we approached the tropic ; the peasants, who were 

for wheat — for clover not even that. Indian corn is now ripe, and 
its harvest is going on. It is sown before the rise of the Nile, and is 
ripe soon after its fall ; and it is thus calculated that zYmust have been 
the corn which was not smitten in the plagues of Egypt by the hail, 
as it was just sprouting above ground when the other corn, which is 
sown on the waters retiring, was ripe and fit for the harvest. The 
same system seems to be pursued now as in the early and palmy days 
of this country. The drawings on the walls of some of the tombs 
display all the processes of husbandry and other daily occupations — 
and allusions in the Bible might have been made as to what happens 
at the present day, so much the same has everything remained. It 
is called 1 the country which thou wateredst with thy foot,' and it is 
so now — the people use their naked feet for stopping their water- 
channels, when required. A very beautiful plant, which we saw a 
good deal of to-day in the fields, is the castor-oil tree — I never saw 
such a diversity of appearances on one plant at the same time ; two 
totally different flowers on the same stalk, one red, the other white, 
berries, buds, and fruit something like horse-chesnuts, but more 
delicate — the young leaves also were of a deep purple, the old ones 
bright green."—' 1 2 Feb. Edfou. Since we were here last, the appear- 
ance of the country is very much altered. The forests of Indian 
corn are cut down, and the stubble is a poor substitute, especially 
when the sun is so hot as to-day ; the wheat has grown to eight inches 
or a foot, in three weeks ; the cotton plants have withered, and the 
irrigation has altered its character."— Mr. Ramsay's Journal. 



108 



ESSOUAN. 



plying the shadoofs or pole-and-bueket water-engine, 
where we landed at Edfou, were nearly black, and 
naked above and below the waist — the children quite so. 

The vale of Egypt appears to end in a cul-de-sac as 
you approach Essouan, old Syene,its southern boundary 
since the days of the prophets, and, indeed, from time 
immemorial ; for though many of the Pharaohs extended 
their sway over Ethiopia, the two countries remained 
always politically, as they are geographically, distinct, 
We reached Essouan, one of the most beautiful spots 
in Egypt, on the 10th of January, mooring on the 
eastern bank near the enormous granite rocks on which 
the ancient Syene stood ; a Saracenic succeeded to the 
Egyptian town, but was visited so severely by the plague, 
four hundred years ago, that the survivors deserted it; 
the ruins at a distance strikingly resemble an old Euro- 
pean town of the middle ages. ( 34 ) 

Opposite Essouan is "the Isle of Flowers," ancient 
Elephantine, the dwelling, according to Herodotus, of 
the Ichthyophagi, or fish-eaters, whom Cambyses sent 
as his ambassadors to the Ethiopians — those " blame- 
less Ethiopians" eulogized by Homer, whose country, 
according to the father of song, the gods visited an- 
nually, and who appear to be the Yadavas or Yatus of 
Hindoo story, a primitive and sacred race, which, emi- 
grating from the east in the infancy of time, established 
themselves, under their monarch, Yatupa, on the moun- 
tains of Yatupeya — the Ethiopia and Ethiops of the 
Greeks, who, designating these as the Western, refer to 
their brethren w T ho remained near the Indus, as the 
Eastern Ethiopians, describing the whole nation as " a 
two-fold people, who lie extended in a long tract from 
the rising to the setting sun" — Cushites, I conceive, all 
of them, and whose original settlement must surely have 
been Khusistan, Susiana, or Cush, between the Tigris 



ELEPHANTINE. 



109 



and Persia. But I shall weary you. — Elephantine ! 
this was really mythic land ! We crossed to the lovely 
island, and, walking to the rocky southern extremity, 
saw the Nile, no longer pent in as below Syene, but 
expanded a bright broad lake before us, studded with 
islets of granite, polished and glittering in the sun. 
Hence to the northern extremity, through fields of the 
richest verdure, irrigated by innumerable little canals, 
about a foot wide, of banked earth, supplied by Persian 
wheels with the precious water of the Nile — and groves 
of date-trees, that draw their nutriment seemingly from 
the very sand of the desert, whispering in reply to them. 
These little canals (opened or shut by the foot) connect 
my associations with the Egypt of Scripture, " where 
thou sowedst thy grain, and wateredst it with thy foot," 
as God described it to the Israelites in contrast to 
Palestine, " the land of hills and valleys, drinking 
water of the rain of heaven," more vividly than all 
the temples and pyramids. They are often alluded 
to in Scripture, particularly in that most beautiful 
proverb of Solomon, true indeed of every man, " the 
heart of the king is like the canals of waters in the 
hand of Jehovah; whithersoever it pleaseth him, he 
inclineth it." Here, as elsewhere, from ignorance of 
Eastern scenery and manners, our translators, admira- 
ble as their version is for all practical purposes, have 
failed in expressing the minute poetical beauty of the 
original imagery. These little aqueducts are more 
refreshing to the eye than it is possible to conceive in 
your frigid zone. 

The temples that, till of late years, adorned Elephan- 
tine, have all been levelled with the ground ; two or 
three square pillars, some vestiges of what is called the 
Nilometer, and a solitary statue seated among the ruins, 
are the only remains. But old remembrances and the 



110 



ASCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



perennial verdure of nature are still enough to render 
it a little paradise for the imagination. Here was the 
limit of Herodotus' s Egyptian travels ; the geographer 
Eratosthenes (I honour his memory) probably often 
sauntered along the shore ; I have too little love for 
Juvenal to feel much interest in the remembrance that 
he was banished to Syene — his spirit was little akin to 
such a scene as this. 

Now for the cataracts. Next morning, (the 11 til,) 
soon after breakfast, the reis, or pilot of the cataracts, 
made his appearance, and, after pipes and coffee, an- 
nounced that, till the wind sprang up, it was useless 
starting. ^Eolus had compassion on us, and sent a 
breeze so favourable that within half an hour we were 
under sail, a prayer having previously been offered up 
by the reis and crew for our safe passage. 

Bidding adieu to Elephantine, the breeze carried us 
gently along between the black granite islets mentioned 
above, of the most singular forms, many of them sculp- 
tured with hieroglyphics — their polished edges glitter- 
ing in the sun ; a scene strangely beautiful, almost too 
wild for beauty. A hawk, nature's sculpture in the 
living rock, springing up propitiously on the left from 
the brow of the eastern crags, seemed to invite us to 
the sacred isle of Philse, and augur a prosperous ascent 
of the intermediate cataracts. The wind freshened, and, 
ere long, the lovely isle of Shehayl stole into sight and 
flitted past like a dream, its palm-trees waving in the 
breeze, and children sporting under them, naked as on 
the day they were born ; an Isle of the Blest it seemed — 
one of those happy islands where poets tell us the 
shades of heroes of old wander, under whispering 
groves, in sweet converse, placid and at rest after the 
turmoils of life— aptly figured by the black rocks that, 
hemming in the noble river, gave so awful a character 
to the surrounding scenery. And yet this little isle had 



ASCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



Ill 



once still more exalted inhabitants ; Sati and Anuki, 
the Juno and Vesta of Egyptian mythology, and Kneph, 
the spirit of the universe, delighted in its bowers, and 
honoured it with their protection ; and hieroglyphical 
tablets, anterior to the birth of Cecrops, attest its early 
sanctity. The whole valley, indeed, of the Nile, be- 
tween Elephantine and Phil ae, was "holy ground" to 
the Egyptians and Ethiopians. 

The scenery now exchanges its character of mingled 
beauty and terror for that of unmingled grandeur; 
not that the rocks are particularly lofty, but Salvator 
never dreamed of such strange unnatural combinations 
— sometimes shooting into craggy pinnacles, often piled 
one on another, regularly and methodically, as if in 
mockery of human architecture, or wildly and con- 
fusedly heaped like the fall of a volcano shower — all 
gloom — relieved only by the yellow sands that lie drifted, 
like snow-wreaths, on the face of the western shore — if 
that can be called relief which carries the imagination 
beyond the narrow bounds of visible desolation to the 
illimitable waste of the desert, where even Fancy's 
wing must sink exhausted. The sun, glowing in a 
cloudless sky, reminded us of our approach to the 
tropics, while Father Nile, flowing swifter and swifter 
as we drew near each successive rapid, dashing and 
foaming over the islets, and often there most turbulent 
where we were to force our passage, seemed to bar all 
further progress towards his undiscoverable source. 
But his opposition, like that of the visionary waters of 
fairy legends, vanished before the steady breeze of 
resolution; he offered a more formidable barrier in 
ancient times, if we may believe the fictions of the poets. 

The Arabs, who met us by appointment at the first 
rapid, were of little use ; the breeze carried us up 
steadily and beautifully, and we sailed on again for a 
while in smooth water; but the river recovered its 



112 



ASCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



velocity as we approached the second and more for- 
midable rapid, winding our way between the little 
glittering islets, constantly expecting to fall foul of 
them, but escaping always by an inch or two, thanks to 
the counter-eddies, shifting our broad lateen sail every 
moment, as we changed our position in regard to the 
wind — the white-bearded reis, meanwhile, conspicuous 
from afar in his brilliant robes of red and blue, with 
variegated turban and cane of office, gesticulating and 
shouting from the rocks — the sons of Shem, Ham, and 
Japhet, yelling the languages of Europe, Asia, and 
Africa around us — our last detachment of Arabs and 
Nubians watching us from the opposite shore, or, cling- 
ing to a log of wood, flinging themselves fearlessly into 
the very jaws of the cataracts, swept down like lightning, 
soon to reappear at our vessel's side, likf mahogany 
and ebony statues, with a request for "bagshish," a 
present, viz. in guerdon of their intrepidity, — altogether 
it was a strange, a savage scene, worth coming all the 
way from England to witness. 

Bere, at the second rapid, the Nile appears com- 
pletely closed in by the rocks ; it was at first sight 
difficult to conceive the possibility of threading our way 
between, or penetrating beyond them. After one fruit- 
less attempt, we succeeded in crossing to the opposite 
rocks, where the natives attaching a large and strong 
rope of twisted palm-fibres, we commenced our ascent, 
with the chorused song of " Haylee sa !" " Godhelp P By 
dint of pulling and poling, in which we all lent a hand, 
we got up famously — to our wonder, looking back — for 
the rapid we had surmounted is by far the most difficult 
of ascent, owing to the narrowness of the channel where 
alone it is practicable. Then we had smooth sailing 
for a while, the reis, in his ample robes, heading our 
cortege on the eastern shore, at least seventy or eighty 



phil^:. 



113 



men and boys, efficient and inefficient, following in his 
rear, laughing and skipping, pelting each other with 
sand, and flourishing their long dirks, half in earnest, 
half in play, till we arrived at the third and principal 
rapid, where the Nile, collecting all his waters, rushes 
down in one broad sheet, smooth as a mirror, and fleet 
as an arrow ; but we mounted it with little difficulty, 
there being no rocks to defile through ; pull, pull, pull, 
steady and unrelaxing, and the cataracts were past. 
We detached the rope, unfurled the sail, (it had been 
useless since our arrival at the second rapid,) and glided 
gently over the calm waters till, the rocks opening, the 
sacred island of Philae and its noble temple stood forth 
to greet us, like the castle of some ancient Dive among 
the rocks of Ginnistan. High on the eastern bank 
stands a beautiful columnar edifice, supposed by some 
to have been once shown as the tomb of Osiris, but 
styled, in the traditions of the country, the Bed of 
Pharaoh ; there we moored, and, quitting the boat, pro- 
ceeded to explore one of the most interesting spots in 
the whole valley of the Nile. 

Isis, her husband Osiris, and their son Horus, were 
the triad worshipped at Philae. The sacred isle is only 
three or four hundred yards in length, but it was covered 
with shrines and colonnades ; fringed with a few date- 
trees, the interior is now a mass of ruins ; Nubian huts 
have succeeded Ethiopian temples, and both are de- 
serted. 

The Temple of Isis is the principal ruin. An irre- 
gular colonnade, of which the western range, built up 
perpendicularly from the river, is covered with hiero- 
glyphics and sculptures, while the eastern seems never 
to have been completed — irregular, inasmuch as sym- 
metry, a charm to which the Egyptians seem to have 
been little sensible, was here necessarily sacrificed to 

I 



114 



PHIL^E. 



the limited space the architect had to work upon — 
leads from the southern along the western bank to the 
propylon, or pyramidal towers of entrance, similar to 
those at Edfou, but on a smaller scale, and covered 
with colossal sculptures of the moon-crowned Isis, the 
hawk-headed deity, and a gigantic warrior about to 
inflict the fatal stroke on thirty wretches, whom he holds 
by the hair of their head, back to back, reminding one 
at first of the many-headed, many-handed monsters of 
Indian mythology. These figures are repeated, as well 
as the smaller row of deities above them, on the second 
propylon, which you reach through an irregular dromos 
or court, surrounded by columns covered with sculpture 
and hieroglyphics ; not only are all the capitals differ- 
ent, but those on the left are surmounted by square 
tablets with masks of Isis — the same sweet and mourn- 
ful expression that characterizes all her portraits — per- 
haps suggested by the beautiful planet with which she 
was identified. The second propylon ushers you into 
by far the finest part of the temple — a noble and truly 
beautiful portico, supported on three sides by lofty 
columns, sculptured with hieroglyphics, and painted 
azure and yellow. The walls, ceiling, &c, are also 
beautifully ornamented, the winged orb forming the 
principal device ; this is sculptured over the entrance of 
almost every temple in Egypt and Nubia — how like our 
idea of " the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing 
on his wings ! " 

We explored all the cells with torches, but looked 
in vain for the sculptured hawk that travellers men- 
tion. I was particularly anxious to find it. Dr. Richard- 
son supposes it was venerated at Philae before Osiris, 
Isis, and Horus supplanted its worship. If so, I 
cannot but suspect that the true God was worshipped 
here before the rise, as He undoubtedly was after the 



PHILJE. 



115 



fall, of paganism, when the temples of Philae, Edfou, 
Thebes, and many others, were dedicated to the 
Saviour. 

"The God," says the patriarchal Zoroaster, in his 
noble enumeration of the Almighty's attributes, " is 
(represented as) having a hawk's head; He is the 
Best, Incorruptible, Eternal, Unmade, Indivisible, 
most unlike everything, the Author of all good, the 
Wisest of the wise," &c. "Here," observes Dr. Hales, 
"we have perhaps the first instance on record of sym- 
bolical representation blended with pure spiritual 
description, and in this respect it is highly curious, as 
furnishing, perhaps, the earliest specimen of these 
animal hieroglyphics attributed to the Deity so co- 
piously in Egypt, still to be found on their ancient 
monuments, and which, when the recondite or mystical 
meaning came to be lost, in process of time produced 
all that multifarious polytheism, which corrupted the 
primitive theology of the Egyptians, Indians, Greeks, 
and Romans." 

Egypt was first peopled from Ethiopia; to the 
Ethiopians — who considered themselves, says the 
Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, the most ancient of 
mankind — the Egyptians looked as the parents of their 
religion ; and Philae was held equally sacred by both 
nations. Here, then, probably, was the seat of the 
primeval Egyptian worship, established by Misr and 
his successors, the children of Ham — a race, with the 
exception of the Canaanites, neither blessed nor 
cursed by their patriarch Noah — who are mentioned 
without approbation in the earliest scriptural records, 
but who, doubtless, retained for some generations the 
knowledge, and maintained the worship, of the true 
God in Egypt and Ethiopia, as their kinsmen of the 
line of Canaan did at Salem in Syria. Originally, I 

i a 



116 



PHILJE. 



conceive, familiarized to Egyptian as well as Persian 
imagination by the symbol of the hawk's head, the 
onmivision of the Deity was probably thus represented 
by the Egyptians in hieroglyphic al sculpture ; and its 
spiritual meaning being, in lapse of time, forgotten, in 
this case, as in so many others, " the creature came to 
be worshipped more than the Creator, who is above 
all, God blessed for ever." Philae, then, losing its 
real sanctity as the Salem of the Land of Cush and 
Ham, retained, I conceive, its celebrity as the seat of 
idolatry; the hawk continuing the chief object of wor- 
ship, till that of Osiris, Isis, and Horus supplanted 
and, in part, became blended with it ; the name of the 
Almighty, in fact, supplanting his attribute: for Osiris, 
as Dr. Hales elsewhere observes, is evidently a cor- 
ruption of lahoh Sihor, or Jehovah the Black, the 
" black-clouded Jove" of Homer. Xor is the character 
of Osiris, as the good principle and judge of the dead, 
unlike that of the Deity; his identification, moreover, 
with Bacchus, the giver of the vine, (Iswara in x ndia,) 
is another proof of his identity in name with the giver 
of all good things "and fruitful seasons, filling our 
hearts with food and gladness" — for Iacchus, the Greek 
form of the name of Bacchus, is simply the guttural 
pronunciation of lahoh, with the Greek termination ; 
and the mystic fan of Bacchus, represented in the 
Eleusinian mysteries of Ceres, (Isis,) — introduced 
originally, says Herodotus, from Egypt, strikingly 
resembles that in the hand of the Son of Man, with 
which he is to purge his threshing-floor. 

Here are theories for you, dear mother 1 — K guesses 
at truth" rather; I would not have troubled you with 
them, only they will tend to explain a little poem 
which I enclose you, begun while we were passing the 



PHILiE. 



117 



cataracts, and finished after wards in Nubia.* I should 
premise, however, that I have no authority for making 
St. Thomas visit Ethiopia on his way to India. 

One guess more — was not the eagle of Zeus, the 
Roman Ju-pater, or Father Jove — the same emblem, 



* THE ASCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 

The sky is clear, not a cloud in heaven, 

And blithely swells the sail, 
While myriad islet rocks between 

We skim before the gale — ■ 
Like a black swan each on a still lake's breast, 
Peacefully cradled in noontide rest. 

Tne Cataract's roar !— around their chief, 
Each to the God of Ishmael bending, 

The turbaned crew approve his prayer, 
Their lives to Allah's will commending ; 

A prayer of much simplicity — 

And we too, Lord ! we trust in Thee ! 

Syene's rocks are far behind, 

And thy green banks, sweet Isle of Flowers ! 
And thine, Shehayl ! whose children's laugh 

Rings merrily through the date-tree bowers, 
That erst, mysterious rites concealing, 
O'ershadowed silent Pharaohs kneeling. 

And yearly to the triple shrine— 
For Kneph's and Sati's equal smile 

With Anuki's was courted there — 

Dark-visaged queens from Meroe's Isle, 

And kings from farthest Hadramaut, 

Bright gems and Indian incense brought. 

The Nile ! the Nile ! I hear the gathering roar — 
(No vision now — no dream of ancient years !) 

Throned on his rocks, amid the watery war, 
The King of Floods, old Homer's Nile appears ! 

With gentle smile, majestically sweet, 
Curbing the billowy steeds that vex then feet 



118 



PHIL.E. 



borrowed from the same Egyptian or Persian source ? 
How unlike its eye, closing, as Pindar beautifully 
describes it, under the lulling influence of the lyre, to 
His who never slumbers or sleeps ! 

Interesting as is the temple of Isis, and noble as 



Not so when, bursting from the matron breast 

Of central Afric, veiled from eye profane, 
Ten thousand fertile streams, with foamy crest, 

Rush down to waft their monarch to the main ; 

Then to those billowy steeds he gives the rein, 
And, leaning on his car with simple grace, 

Speeds, like the light, o'er Egypt's thirsty plain ; 
The Hours, the Seasons, laugh before his face, 
Fresh as the new-born sun, rejoicing in his race. 

Thus, when the Sun of Righteousness, his wings 
Of healing spread, shall rise upon our woe, 

The River of Life, from heavenly Zion's springs, 
Like Nile o'er Egypt, o'er the earth shall flow :— 
Desert no more, Zahara's sands shall glow 

With purple flowers — where'er the floods extend, 
Knowledge shall bloom, and Love enthroned below 

Dwell in all hearts ; and every bough shall bend 
With sacramental pledge of blessings without end ! 

Then, Pfailae !— (lo ! the Rapids past, 
Like wrath supplanted by a smile, 

'Tween opening rocks and waters clear 

That murmur music to the ear, 
Steals into view the lovely Isle)— 

Then, Philae ! then shall hvmns once more 

Resound along thy templed shore ! 

Shrine of old Faith, though long defiled ! 

To God and man thou still art dear, 
For Cushite kings of earliest time 

And blameless creed have worshipp'd here, 
Ere blinded man the all-seeing Eye 
Degraded to idolatry. 



PHIL.E. 



119 



its general effect, the sculptures and hieroglyphics are 
of a very inferior style. The lovely nondescript edifice 
by the river-side pleased me much more; the eye 
willingly turns from the heavy grandeur and rude 
sculpture of the larger, to repose on the airy grace and 

Christ's agony ! a second blight 

That morn pale Egypt overspread ; 
The hoary Pyramids, steeped in night, 

Trembled upon their rocky bed, 
Foreboding j udgments from on high 
Fiercer than those that shook their infancy. ( sS ) 

Isis that morn, moon-crested dame, 
Sweet Philse's bowers forsook for ever; 

Her shrine thenceforth was dumb, kings came 
To ask, but answer gat they never ! 

The priests, too, fled— their time was o'er, 

And votaries sought her Isle no more. 

Years dawn'd and died till, bound for Ind, 

With holy eye and snowy beard, 
With scrip, and staff, and girdled robe, 

One autumn eve a sire appeared ; 

More to be loved seemed he than feared, — 
The children rested from their play, 
And craved his blessing as he went his way. 

Well might they ask it ! he was one 

That He who little children loved 
Had breathed his Holy Spirit upon ; 

And, by that Spirit inly moved, 
He then sought out an humble pair 
That dwelt in lonely virtue there. 

The night in holy converse past, 
The stranger went his way the morrow, — 

Long, long remembered, uneffaced, 

His words of mingled cheer and sorrow ! 

For meek and mournful was his mien, 
As one that of himself had much mistrustful been, 



120 



PHIL.E. 



unadorned simplicity of the smaller ruin. There is 
not a hieroglyphic on it, nor any sculpture except the 
winged globe over the portal by which it was entered 
from the temple ; open above and laterally, and seen 
from below, it is beautiful indeed. No roof was ever 

Me lists not to recount the tale 

How, through that pair by truth enlightened, 

To hundreds, o'er each Nubian vale, 
The sun of Gospel gladness brighten'd, 

And Philse heard once more delighted 
Hymns to the God to whom her youth was plighted. 

But Persecution, even here, 

Sought out and slew them ; writ in heaven, 
Their names, unread in human story, 
Shine like the morning stars in glory; 

In robes of whiteness, freely given, 
Palms in their hands, the victor band 
Before the Lamb, their Saviour, stand. 

Uncouth inscriptions, rudely traced, 
A sculptured cross— mute things alone 

Heveal where erst Acceptance graced 

The prayers through which their prize was won ; 
And Philae, with a mother's moan, 

Unmindful of their happier lot, 

Weeps o'er her children that are not ! 

Rise, sweet one, rise ! and dry thy tears ; 

A brighter day is dawning o'er 
A world for twice three thousand years 

Trodden down of man, and drenched in gore ; 

Thy children thou shalt see once more, 
Shalt hear their voices blend united 
In hymns like those in which thy youth delighted ! 

Soon, O soon ! may the day-star rise 
O'er Egypt's vale and Asshur's bowers, 

To warn the nations, unseal their eyes, 
And guide their feet to Salem's towers, 

When every hand shall an offering bear, 

And every heart be a House of Prayer ! 



LAND OF CUSH. 



121 



added or intended, and the intercolurnniations are 
built up only a little more than a third of the height ; 
the capitals of the columns are leaves of the date-tree. 
Several courses of stone, intervening between the 
columns and the cornice, add to the singular effect, 
without diminishing from the beauty of this dear little 
temple — as our sweet Minnie would call it. This 
cannot surely be the tomb of Osiris — the Egyptian 
lowered his voice, and sunk his eye, 

" And pointed upwards as to God in heaven," 

when he swore the tremendous oath, "By Him that 
sleeps in Philae !" Neither edifice is older than the 
day of the Ptolemies. (*) 

The sullen roar of the cataracts was our music for 
the night. 

This rocky range above Syene I take to be the 
Hemacuta or Golden Mountains of the Hindus, ( 3r ) 
who, considering the course of the Nile, after issuing 
from the Lake of the Gods under the Southern Meru, 
exactly analogous to that of the Ganges, after issuing 
from Lake Mansarowar under the Northern — assert 
that each bursts through three ranges of mountains, 
named alike in both countries Himalaya, Nishada, 
and Hemacuta, before reaching its last unfettered flow 
towards the ocean. Each river is held equally sacred, 
as well as the points of junction of each with its tribu- 
taries. Few Indian pilgrims, however, in these dege- 
nerate days, visit Egypt. 

The next morning, January the 12th, we started on 
our voyage into the Land of Cush, gliding smoothly 
along between rocky hills that confine the fertilizing 
influence of the Nile to a very narrow strip of culti- 
vable ground, often encroached upon by the sands of 



122 



TEMPLES OF NUBIA. 



the desert, which lie in broad sheets on the western 
bank. The scattered clumps, however, of date and 
doum trees (Theban palms) lend a pleasing variety to 
scenery, otherwise of the gloomiest character. Once 
this country was rich and beautiful and populous, till 
Surya, the Regent of the Sun, being seized one morning 
with a most unseasonable fit of devotion, descended on 
it to say his prayers ; the waters dried up immediately, 
the mountains took fire, and the inhabitants were 
roasted to death. Brahma and Vishnu descended to 
expostulate with, and, indeed, console, the unlucky 
Surya— for he was as concerned as they were at the 
unfortunate issue of his zeal, and promised, with deep 
contrition, to amend the mischief. " It is I," replied 
Vishnu, " who must repair it, and when I shall revisit 
this country, in the character of Crishna, to destroy the 
demon Sanch'asura, the land shall cool, and be re- 
plenished with plants and animals. The race of Palis 
shall then settle here, with the Cutilacesas, the Yavanas, 
the Barbaras, and other mixed tribes." All this has 
come to pass — Crishna has been incarnated— the demon 
Sanch'asura destroyed — the Palis have arrived and 
departed, — the Yavanas, or laones, are forgotten even 
in Greece, the " ultima Thule" of their wanderings — 
but Vishnu's promise has been only partially performed, 
and the effects of Surya's descent are still visible in 
the blackened and scorched aspect of the hills of 
Nubia. 

We now enter the region of the Berber language, but 
the children were as familiar with the magical word 
bagshish, as ours in England are with the kindred 
phrase Christmas box — which Bishop Heber thinks may 
have been derived from it. 

We visited a temple at Dabod — the first within the 
tropic, and another at Kalabshe ; those between the 



ROCK TEMPLE AT BEIT-WELLEE. 123 



Cataracts were for the most part built by the Ptolemies 
and Caesars ; many of them have been left unfinished ; 
they can boast, generally speaking, of but few sculp- 
tures, and those of a very inferior execution. The age 
of Augustus in Egypt was that of the decadence of the 
arts ; long, indeed, before the Ptolemies, they had fallen 
from their high estate under Osirei, Sesostris, and their 
immediate successors ; there were Homers then in the 
land, who celebrated the wars of those heroic princes 
on imperishable stone ; but you see few historical 
sculptures later than Rameses the Fifth ; the national 
spirit had died out — religion had sunk into a mere 
caput mortuum — and the descendants of the artists who 
sculptured the Memnonium had degenerated into mere 
mythological copyists, constantly reiterating a Pantheon 
of deities, whose every attitude was prescribed by law — 
it is only wonderful that they copied so well, but the 
life is wanting. The likenesses of the Pharaohs, as I 
have observed already, whether painted in the tombs 
or sculptured on the temples, were always exactly pre- 
served — but once taken, they seem never to have sat a 
second time for their portraits. The same likeness is 
constantly reiterated ; you cannot trace the gradual 
change — step by step — year by year — from the full 
cheek and brent brow of youth to the sunk and care- 
worn lineaments of age — which lends so touching an 
interest to the series of a Greek king's medals. It 
would be interesting to compare the Egyptian with the 
medallic portraits of the Ptolemies and Cassars, and 
ascertain whether any pains were then taken to preserve 
the resemblance.* 

* Professor Rossellini has found, by comparison with existing 
monuments, medals, &c, that the portraits of the Ptolemies are 
correct, those of the Roman emperors imaginary. — Monumenti delV 
Egitto, grc., Mon. Storici, torn, ii, pp. 461 sqq. [1847.] 



124 



ROCK TEMPLE AT BEIT-WELLEE. 



The most spirited sculptures we have seen in the 
valley of the Nile are those in the small rock-temple of 
Beit-Wellee, half an hour's walk from Kalabshe — 
founded by Sesostris to commemorate his victories over 
the Cushites or Ethiopians, and the Shorii, an eastern 
nation, according to Mr. Wilkinson,* (1 quote his 
words,) " apparently of Arabia Petraea, who, having 
been previously reduced by the Egyptian monarchs 
and made tributary to them, rebelled and were recon- 
quered by Osirei and the Second Rameses." Open and 
exposed for three thousand years to the air of heaven 
and the hand of man, these sculptures are still as sharp 
and fresh almost as when the artist exhibited them, in 
his pride, to Rameses. 

To the right, entering the open area excavated in 
front of the temple, you have the conquest of the 
Shorii, — to the left, the submission of the Cushites ; 
everything bespeaks the desperate resistance of the 
former, the tame cowardice of the latter. On the right 
wall, Rameses, alike victorious on foot and in his war- 
chariot, attacks the Shorii, slays their chief in single 
combat, and drives them to the fortifications of their 
town ; his son, the heir of Egypt, storms the walls, and 
presents his prisoners bound to his father, who, in the 
last compartment of this sculptured history, is repre- 
sented seated on his throne reposing after his toils, the 
favourite lion that accompanied him in battle crouching 
at his feet. On the left wall, the Prince of Cush, his 
hand raised in supplication, his son and daughter at 
his side, is introduced by the Prince of Egypt to the 
mighty Rameses, throned in state ; rings of gold, bags 
of precious stones, elephants' teeth, apes, (but no pea- 
cocks) — the wealth of Ethiopia, are borne after him, 



* Now Sir Gardner Wilkinson. [1847.] 



ROCK TEMPLE AT BEIT-WELLEE. 



125 



offerings to the conqueror; the lion, the giraffe, the 
bull, the gazelle, the ostrich, figure in the procession. 
The contempt of the Egyptians for their un warlike 
neighbours may be traced here, as elsewhere, in the 
caricatured features of one of the tribute-bearers, whose 
countenance bears a ludicrous resemblance to that of 
the monkey that precedes him in the procession. 

And yet they did not yield absolutely without a blow. 
There is one scene of most touching interest. The 
Cushites have been defeated — they hurry confusedly 
to the woods for refuge, stumbling over the dying and 
the dead, but one of them has outstripped the fleetest, 
in hopes of saving his friend's wife from the pursuers 
— he knew not that that friend was already at his own 
door — but alas ! faint and bleeding, wearily dragging 
on, his arms thrown round two of his comrades' necks, 
who grasp his wrists to strengthen him. He overtakes 
them at the moment when his friend's sister and his 
children recognise him — she stands aghast; one boy 
holds up his hands in horror, — another covers his face 
with one hand, and runs to clasp his father's knee with 
the other, — the third runs to tell his mother, who, un- 
conscious of what awaits her, is preparing her husband's 
meal. But the tumult approaches — the flying Cushites, 
the chariot- wheels of Pharaoh and the Egyptians — fly 1 
oh fly ! — they see only, they hear only, the wounded 
man ! — a minute — and wife and husband, brother and 
sister, children and friend, will all be overwhelmed by 
the mighty torrent, — a monkey has climbed to the top 
of a tree for refuge — there is yet time — but what are 
they to do with the wounded man ? 'Tis too late now 
— they come, they come, rushing, crushing through the 
forest — and now .... let us drop the curtain. 

The sculptures of the interior temple are highly 
interesting, and evidently allusive to the scenes of 



126 



GUERF HASSAN. 



conquest sculptured without. A Shorian and an 
Ethiopian, the representatives, I presume, of their re- 
spective nations, lie at the feet of Rarneses ; with one 
hand he grasps their hair, the uplifted battle-axe gleams 
in the other. Forced on his knees, but those knees 
clenched together, the muscles rigid, the joints un- 
yielding, the brave Arab meets with unquailing eye the 
glance of his conqueror, and raises Ins left arm firmly 
to ward or! the blow which the Ethiopian tamely sub- 
mits to, — the contrast is that of courage with cowardice 
■ — personified in the relaxed limbs, uplifted but shrink- 
ing hands, and averted face of the negro ; the lips of 
both are moving, but you need not fancy to supply words 
— every limb, every gesture speaks.* 

The following morning we visited the gloomy and 
awful temple of Guerf Hassan, ancient Talmis, com- 
pletely excavated in the sandstone rock, and singularly 
resembling, travellers say, the Cave of Elephanta in 

* K On each side of the portal is a group of a far more singular 
description, evidently allegorical. A tall female, elegantly attired, 
in the one instance with a veil thrown over her head, in the other 
with a head-dress of feathers, like that of the American savages, 
identifying her with the Goddess Anuki, or Vesta, who in similar 
array is seated with the conteraplar deities, Xef and Amunre, within 
two corresponding niches in the cella, offers her breast to Ramests 
with one hand, gracefully throwing her other arm round his neck, 
while he draws sustenance from her bosom. TVhich of the European 
Vestas does Anuki correspond to ? the Goddess of Fire, or her of 
Earth, worshipped by her children under so many various names as 
the common mother of mankind, but always with grateful reference 
to her promotive fertility? — If the latter, these groups may pos- 
sibly be emblematical of the riches drawn by Rarneses from the con- 
quered countries. The land of Canaan was described by the 
abundance of its milk and honey. — like this, too, the imagery of 
Isaiah, 4 Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck 
the breast of kings,' prophetic of the future national prosperity of 
Jerusalem. And compare chapter lxvi, vss. 11, 12." — Orig. Journal. 
[1847.] 



TEMPLE OF PHTHAH. 



127 



India — I hope, my dear mother, I shall some day be 
qualified to judge of the resemblance! But for the 
name of Barneses graven on every wall and every pillar 
throughout the temple, one would be inclined to assign 
it to the earliest period of Egyptian, or, more strictly 
speaking, Ethiopian architecture ; it is almost impos- 
sible not to believe it more ancient than any other 
monument in Egypt except the Pyramids ; there is not 
a trace of the taste and beauty of Rameses' time. A 
ruined portico (square columns, faced with colossal 
statues) leads to the first and largest of the excavated 
chambers, a noble hall, supported by six enormous 
square columns, faced, like those of the portico, with 
statues of Osiris, above eighteen feet high, cut in full 
relief, — mild, chubby, undignified countenances, the 
arms crossed, holding the scourge of power and the 
crosier of peace, ( 3b ) the legs naked and shapeless, 
more like pillars than human stumps; the attitude 
of the lower part of the body reminded me of the 
Esquimaux, and their pendent sashes of Highland 
sporrans, the head of some animal projecting in the 
usual place, with seven tassels below it. Statues of 
Phthah, or Vulcan, to whom this temple is dedicated, 
of Athor the lion-headed, (Venus,) and of Anuki, 
(Vesta,) are sculptured in recesses behind the columns 
on each side of the hall. Beyond it are the cella, sup- 
ported by two large columns, and the adytum, or inner- 
most shrine, at the further end of which, on a high 
platform, sit four most mysterious-looking colossal 
figures, — a large hewn stone on the floor in front of 
them, perhaps an altar. In the small lateral apart- 
ments are benched recesses, probably for embalming. 
All the chambers are sculptured, but they are so black 
with smoke and dirt, and the rock has in many places 
proved so faithless to its trust, that we could make 



128 



TEMPLE OF PHTHAH. 



nothing of them. Negro and Nubian boys ciceroned 
us with burning ropes through this extraordinary exca- 
vation. Mithras' caye itself could scarcely haye been 
gloomier than the Rock-temple of Guerf Hassan! 

The Persians, those Iconoclasts of antiquity, piqued 
themselyes on their spiritual worship of the Deity, and 
certainly they neyer sank into such gross polytheism as 
the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; yet their reve- 
rence for fire, while it proyes that both nations drew 
their religion from one primeyal source, was no less 
idolatrous than that of the Egyptians for Phthah, the 
Vulcan of Egypt, and all the rest of their " diyine 
menagerie," as William calls it. 

The sacred fire of the Persians, like that of the 
Jews, was originally emblematical only of Mithras, 
the hidden god, but when the " spiritual meaning of 
the yisible sign" had been forgotten, they worshipped 
it as a deity ; and if they regarded it, as we know they 
did the element in general, as a living creature, Cam- 
byses (unless, indeed, like his father, Cyrus, he acknow- 
ledged " the Lord for his God") had no excuse for 
sheathing his sword in the bull Apis. 

Again: — In all ages the Egyptians reyered Phthah 
as their earliest king, assigning no duration to his 
reign — in other words, ascribing dominion to him from 
all eternity, till his resignation of the sceptre to his 
son Helius, the orb of day, whose reign they limit to 
30,000 years. 

Surely we see the God of Light enshrined, the fire 
by which he will try all things gleaming, in the adyta 
of both cayes, both creeds, at first sight so unconnected, 
in their actual encounter so hostile ! 

And whom can the pigmy Pataici — the diminutive 
images placed by the Phoenicians on the prows of their 
galleys, and to which Herodotus likens the statue of 



WELLEE KIASHEF. 



129 



Vulcan at Memphis — whom can they have represented, 
and whence can they have derived their name but 
from Phthah? whatever was his origin, Egyptian or 
Chaldean, still the primeval, eternal Phthah ; Vulcan 
of Rome, Hephaistos of Greece, Phthah of Egypt, 
Mithras of Persia—with reverence be it added, Jehovah 
of Heaven! — the God of Light, dwelling in thick dark 
ness as his pavilion, his cloudy cave — who, in the olden 
time, " looked unto the host of the Egyptians through 
the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host 
of the Egyptians" — by fire, and wind, and water, his 
ministering elements, " executing judgment on all the 
gods of Egypt," while he 66 led forth the people w T hom 
he had redeemed" from an apostate land that, no longer 
recognising him as a spirit, no longer worshipped him 
in spirit and in truth. 

Approaching Korosko, we sailed through a strange 
country, black volcanic-looking mountains on either 
side the river, and in many places a few yards only of 
cultivation intervening between it and the desert. We 
moored for the night at Korosko. Imagine our dismay 
when Wellee Kiashef, the Turkish governor of the 
country between the cataracts, resting there for the mo- 
ment on one of his progresses through his little vice- 
royalty, sent to offer us a visit ! It could not be helped, 
so we entertained him — an intelligent and very inqui- 
sitive man, most anxious for information; he said it was 
his great delight to make acquaintance with, and gain 
knowledge from Englishmen, whenever he could meet 
with them. The first compliments were scarcely paid, 
when he produced a little Arabic treatise on geography, 
printed by the missionaries at Malta, and asked how 
many men formed the standing force of Russia ? We 
expected to be regularly catechised on the resources of 
every state in Europe, but his subsequent questions 

K 



130 



WELLEE KIASHEF. 



were chiefly geographical ; he had evidently made the 
most of his little book — his sole library, he told us — 
and had treasured the information he had picked up 
from travellers I gave him four or five x^rabic books, 
one on astronomy, the others chiefly religious, that I had 
found lying at Alexandria along with some books I 
bought there, and included them in my bargain, on the 
chance of finding some opportunity of giving them 
away. 

All his geographical ideas, except those derived from 
his text-book, were very vague. He discriminated the 
Abyssinian branch of the Nile from the western river, 
the more considerable of the two, by calling it emphati- 
cally Bahr el Nil, or the Blue River ; I believe it is 
always painted blue in the sculptures — the word is San- 
scrit too, and applied in the sacred books to the western 
Nile, though the usual name for it is Cali or Chrishna — 
the Black, which corresponds in meaning with the He- 
brew name Sihor ; and yet, oddly enough, the river is 
neither black nor blue, but of a muddy colour. The 
Kiashef, in reply to our question where the sources were, 
said they were not very distant, but that the barbarous 
tribes and fierce animals, with which the intermediate 
country abounds, rendered them difficult of approach. 
One of these tribes, he told us, is a nation of dogs with 
women wives ! — the old tradition, then, of the Cynoce- 
phali, or dog-headed men, is still current here. The 
same belief prevailed in Tartary in the time of Zinghis 
Khan, and Mr. Buckingham was asked at Assalt, east of 
the Jordan, whether he had ever been to the Belled el 
Kelb, where the men had dog's heads. The Nile, added 
the Kiashef, parts into three rivers — the Egyptian 
stream, another that reaches the sea near Algiers, and 
the third near Spain. 

Naming our acquaintance Omar Effendi, (a young 



WELLEE KIASHEF. 



131 



Turk sent by Mohammed AH to study in England, but 
now returned and settled at Cairo,) he said he was from 
the same village, and seemed interested in hearing we 
had been at college with him. 

Taking his departure, he sent us a couple of turkeys, 
and a sort of firman or order to furnish us everything we 
might need between the cataracts. Nothing could be 
kinder than his offers of procuring us men, camels, and 
assistance of every sort, wheresoever we might be dis- 
posed to go. It was interesting, but painful, to see a 
man, evidently of talent, born and bred in intellectual 
darkness, and aware of his deficiencies, struggling and 
catching at every ray of light. He entered at once 
on his inquiries, never doubting our willingness to afford 
him what aid we could ; the conversation seldom flagged 
a moment, and in his eagerness, the pipe was often 
neglected. On paying us another visit on our return, 
(to w T hich I alluded at the commencement of this long 
epistle,) he told us very feelingly that, since he had be- 
come acquainted with Europeans about three years ago, 
he had disrelished the society of other Turks ; all their 
conversation ran on women or dress, never on subjects 
of real interest. " Now," said he, " I like to know how 
the sun shines, how the world was created, who inhabit 
it, &c, and because I do so, and seek the society of 
those who can instruct me, my countrymen call me 
proud, and I am quite alone among them — " solo, 
solo, solo !" as Abdallah translated it : it went to my 
heart — poor fellow ! he must indeed be lonely, and so 
must every one be who outstrips his fellows, while they 
are still as unenlightened as the Turks, even by the 
very insignificant distance that Wellee Kiashef has got 
before them. 

We reached Wady Haifa, the limit of our Ethiopian 
voyage, on the 19th, passing Ebsambul, the magni- 

K 2 



132 



BERBERS. 



ficent rock-temple opened by Belzoni, without landing 
— our large boat could ascend no higher. I ought to 
have told you that, to our delight, we found we could 
take her beyond Essouan ; we thought we should have 
been obliged to hire a small one there, and anticipated 
bugs, cock-roaches, spiders — all sorts of miseries. 

Friday, the 20th January, we started for the second 
and principal cataracts of the Nile, a few miles only be- 
yond Wady Haifa, in a small boat manned with Nubian 
sailors, or Berbers, as they are called in their native 
tongue ; and Barbaradesa is the name given to all this 
district in the Hindoo records. They are a very handsome 
race, far superior to the Arabs — at least of Egypt, almost 
black, but with a polished skin, quite unlike the dirty 
hue of the negro, — the eye rests far more complacently 
on their naked limbs than on those of the whiter castes; 
they are tall, for the most part, and beautifully propor- 
tioned, sinewy and slender — the heel on a line with the 
back of the leg, a noble expression of countenance, and 
fine phrenological foreheads ; their honesty is pro- 
verbial. Cultivation, I think, might do wonders with 
them.* So much for the race in general; the indivi- 

* Mr. Ramsay s Observations on the races of Nubia. " The people 
here (Philae) are of the Berber race, or Nubians, a very fine nation. 
No people have ever struck me so much ; they are almost invariably 
handsome and elegant in their form and features, with an expression 
of high intelligence and mind I never saw in other people of their 
rank. Talking phrenologically, their heads are perfect, and I can- 
not help thinking their capabilities for civilization very great. They 
seem to have a great deal of ready wit and humour, to judge by the 
constant repartees and roars of laughter ; and their songs are beau- 
tiful."— Letter of Mr. Ramsay, Feb. 18. 

"Jan. 12, Kalabshi. The natives are the most savage uncivilized 
human beings one could wish to see. They grow darker at each 
village, but have by no means the attributes of genuine Nubians ; 
their hue is more like that of a very dirty collier in England, or a 
sweep, than the pure, shining, polished skin of the true breed. The 



UPPER CATARACTS. 



133 



duals on this occasion — naked except the waist, and 
full of fun and merriment, punted and rowed us up the 
river, as far as the boat could ascend, and then, landing 
on the western bank, we proceeded on foot, alternately 
over sand and rock, to Abousir, a lofty cliff that over- 
hangs the rapids, conspicuous from afar, and covered, 
we found, with the names of former travellers. 

Climbing the rock, the Nile lay before us like the 
map of an Archipelago — so it seemed to me at first, till 
the eye presently discovered the main stream of the 
river winding between myriads of little black islets, 
tufted with the Egyptian acacia, and glistening in the 
sunbeams like those near Philss — themselves washed 

little din gy, naked children, running away to hide themselves, or 
staying to joke and laugh at us, which they do with all their heart 
and soul, as different in appearance as in manners from their neigh- 
bours south of Essouan, have a very savage look." 

" Jan. 17, beyond Derr. The country grows wilder and more 
picturesque. The varieties of inhabitants are remarkable ; each vil- 
lage appears to have a different race — at one point, a group of tho- 
rough-bred, woolly-headed, frightful negroes — at another, that race 
we call (whether rightly or no) Nubians, & handsome interesting 
people, not black, though nearly approaching to it — at another, the 
Berbers (I suppose), & peculiarly fine set, with the free independent 
air of the desert, and simple elegant dress. They are considered as 
having the best character of any people in every respect. The Arabs 
also here and there appear, the same as in Egypt. The women's 
dress in some places is peculiarly elegant, consisting of wide trousers, 
drawn tight at the ankle, and apparently continued as a sort of boot 5 
over the shoes. These reach to the waist ; the upper robe is very 
elegant, formed apparently of a doubled cloth, square, and with a 
hole for the head, which is passed through it, and it then falls grace- 
fully over the whole body. The hair is always in layers of curls, 
with something black on the top. The whole dress is of coarse un- 
bleached linen cloth, and has a thoroughly different appearance from 
that of the Arab women, which is always deep blue or black. But 
I have seen none of them near; they never show themselves, nor 
ever appear in company with the men, who come in troops down to 
the banks." — Mr. Ramsay s Journal. 



134 



UPPER CATARACTS. 



by hundreds of collateral streamlets that glitter, foam, 
and roar in emulation of their parent. Ten miles in 
length, and two in breadth, are these rapids. It is the 
lower cataract on an infinitely larger scale, but the im- 
pressions excited are widely different; there you feel 
an interest in every rock as you pass it, you admire 
their savage grandeur individually, and the rapids the 
while are dashing away under your feet— there you 
thread a labyrinth — here you look down on one, quite 
bewildered. 

The prospect, miles to the eastward, is bounded by 
the prolongation of Gebel Mokattam— to the south, by 
the mountains of Dongola — it was something to have 
seen them ! It was a sad thought, that I had reached 
the limits of my southern excursion; sad — though now 
every step I took would bring me nearer to my happy 
homes in England and Scotland! From one of the 
western crags I had a partial view over the Libyan 
desert — a dreary sight. 

While William carved our names on the rock, where 
many a future traveller will read them in association 
with those of Belzoni, Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, 
&c.,* I enjoyed half an hour's delightful rumination, on 
a most commodious natural seat that overhangs the 
Nile beyond the rock Abousir, and on which, before 
departure, I cut my cipher by way of claiming it as my 
own ; Coutts will perhaps one day find it there, and 
add his own to it. Nowhere else have we attempted to 

* " There are many names carved on this bourn of travellers, 
amongst others, those of Belzoni in 1816, Burckhardt, Irby and 
Mangles, Lord Lindsay, and his lost friend, whose name I re-carved 
with care, as one of the few memorials that remain of one of the 
most amiable of men." — The Crescent and the Cross, vol. i, p. 315. 
— :These few words, and the tribute to the memory of the departed 
recorded by them, gave soothing pleasure to the heart of Mr. Ram- 
say's mother, now, within the last few months, no more. [1847.] 



SONGS OF THE BERBERS 



135 



immortalize ourselves in this way. At Petra, if we ever 
get there, we have a plot in petto— to carve oar names, 
" Rarnes' " and " Liiides'," (they are actually written so 
in many ancient charters,) on some conspicuous rock 
or wall, in hieroglyphical characters within king's 
ovals; "what a splutter" (as Sir Walter Scott said) 
will this make among the antiquaries! 

Our Nubian sailors entertained us with some most 
extraordinary Berber songs, as we returned to Wady 
Haifa — there was much more melody in them than in 
the Arab airs. One of them ended in the wildest and 
shrillest single yell I ever heard — single in its effect, 
though decomposable into a rapid reiteration of the 
same high note, springing from the throat like stones 
from the mouth of the Geisers, followed by a second 
yell of one single note, every voice joining in it — two 
or three heathenish laughs, liker the neighing of a score 
of horses than aught human, finishing off the melody. 

We started northward on regaining the " Hippopo- 
tamus," rowing now to expedite our motions, floating 
down stream between two and three miles an hour. 
From Alexandria to Wady Haifa the distance is nine 
hundred and sixty miles. 

Words cannot express to you how much I have 
enjoyed my trip hitherto, but this expedition within the 
tropic I shall always remember with peculiar delight. 
How you would both enjoy Nubia ! The weather is 
lovely, the mornings and evenings exquisitely beautiful, 
fresh breezes tempering the heat ; the sky, by day, 
transparent as crystal — at sunset, a sea of molten gold, 
rich beyond conception — and at night, lighted by a 
moon and stars so brilliant and clear! I finished 
Cowper's Task one evening, lying on the divan in the 
tent, with no lamp but the fair moon to read by ; the 
air was balm, and the musical dash of the oar had 



136 



DESCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



a thousand sparkles of broken light as we glided 
along. 

Thursday, however, the 26th of January, dawned on 
us the gloomiest morning we had seen in Egypt, — now, 
at last, for an adventure ! Few travellers have been 
shipwrecked in the cataracts of the Nile ! 

The Reis made his appearance, and we started on 
our descent to Essouan immediately after breakfast. 
The first rapid we passed prosperously, with the excep- 
tion of one bulge; but the rope attached to the vessel, 
to retard the rapidity of her descent, breaking as we 
approached the second and more difficult one, we were 
hurried off by the torrent, and struck against a rock 
under water, the same which Ibrahim Pasha ran against 
some years ago, when his whole crew perished. We, 
most providentially, struck sideways, or we should pro- 
bably have suffered the same fate. The force of the 
blow drove us on a shoal near an isolated rock in the 
middle of the river; the vessel grounded — our men 
leaped on the rock, and secured her with ropes. Our 
first idea was to lighten her by landing the heavy 
boxes, &c, but the water (for we had sprung two or 
three leaks) gained on us so fast, that all hands were 
set to work to remove the luggage to the island — every- 
thing was hurried out, pell-mell; I was in the cabin, 
giving out the last handful of books, after pocketing 
one or two that I valued, and a bag of gold pieces, on 
the chance of being able to save nothing else, when the 
cry rose that we were going down the stream again ! T 
sprung out; the vessel was edging away from the rock 
— I leaped and caught by my hands, my feet in the 
water ; the Arabs pulled me up, and I was safe, thank 
God ! Twice did the boat nearly escape us, the cur- 
rent was so violent ; at last we got her safely lashed to 
the rock with all the ropes we had, and for an hour, or 



DESCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



137 



more, the men were occupied in landing everything 
portable, first our things, then the oars, planks, &c, of 
the boat ; lastly, their own stores of dates and biscuits, 
which they would not touch, honest fellows ! till ours 
were safe. We expected every minute to see the ropes 
break and the boat topple over, lying sideways as she 
did, the deck half under water. 

Here we were then, and a most extraordinary scene 
it was to be in ! wild and picturesque at all times, 
doubly so now, dark purple clouds lowering around us 
rain pouring, (a wonder of itself in Upper Egypt,) 
lightnings flashing, and thunder outroaring the rapids 
that were dashing past on either side our islet, covered 
as it was with boxes, books, pipes, pistols, guns, 
crockery, pigeons, fowls, lambs, goats ; and, last and 
least, two chameleons, — we had bought them at Derr, 
the capital of Nubia, and had had great fun with 
them.* Our Arabs and Nubians — some were sitting- 
idle on the baggage, others unloading the vessel ; a 

„ * " Jan. 22. Gave half a piastre for a couple of chameleons, which 
we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to tame. Their natural colour 
appears to be a fine green, which is changed into a deep brown or 
black, and varies between the two. It is a very curious animal, like 
' a lizard in general appearance, but much slower in its motions, and 
differently organized. The body is about four inches long, and the 
tail, which is long and tapering, about double that length. It has a 
large head and an enormous mouth ; the eyes are covered with a 
skin the same as its body, with a small hole in the centre, which 
they have the power of directing to any point they choose, so that 
they can see in all possible directions, without moving the head ; 
each eye is moved quite independently of the other, so that one is 
often pointed forward while the other looks backward. The feet are 
divided into two parts, of the same size and form, with three sharp 
claws on each part, and they have the power of grasping with the 
two divisions, as well as hanging by the tail ; the division and action 
of the feet are on much the same principle as those of our hands and 
thumb, only as if there were two hands thus united, with three 
fingers each." — Mr. Bamsays Journal, 



138 



DESCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



messenger every now and then catamaraning it from 
the shore on a log of wood, or fearlessly dashing 
through the rapids, calculating his distance, and the 
necessary allowance for the force of the current, with 
the most unerring precision. Our captain, meanwhile, 
sitting on the edge of the rock, bareheaded and almost 
naked, was raving like a madman, now rocking back- 
wards and forwards, now stretching out his hands, apos- 
trophizing his boat, and crying like a child; one of the 
sailors covered his head, exposed as it was to the rain, 
and robed him — he was quite unconscious of the atten- 
tion; I never saw a man so utterly unnerved. The 
crew, too, were blubbering at first, but afterwards they 
worked like men. Abdallah was active and useful; 
Missirie, a host in himself, was packing up this, tying 
up that, stowing away the books, and preparing every- 
thing for the re-embarkation which we hoped to effect, 
though we were not unprepared for the necessity of 
making the rock our bed for the night ; a situation, 
altogether — what with the war of elements, the wreck, 
our uncertainty how we were to get off, if at all — as 
impossible to describe as to forget. 

We had ample time, three hours or more, to reflect 
on the kindness of Providence in directing us against 
the rock we struck on; had we missed it, we should 
have been hurried down the cataract, at the certainty, 
almost, of being dashed to pieces ; had we grounded 
nearer the first rapid, we must have swum for our 
lives — we should have had no islet to take refuge on, 
such as proved our safety this morning. 

Having sent to Philse and Essouan for help, both 
messages took effect in due time, the former producing 
a small boat, the latter our friend of Korosko, Wellee 
Kiashef ! who, we found afterwards, was just stepping 
into his boat for Esneh, when he heard of our mis- 



DESCENT OF THE CATARACTS. 



139 



fortune, and came forthwith to our assistance, with his 
Armenian secretary, and the dragoman, or interpreter, 
of a German baron, bound on the Pasha's service to 
the gold mines in Sennaar. 

The boat from Philse was beautifully manoeuvred; 
it darted past us, and down the rapids, like an arrow, 
and then veered round under the rocks, and was towed 
up by the Nubians, swimming from rock to rock, till 
they brought it alongside our islet After getting all 
our valuables on board, we embarked with Missirie, 
Abdallah, Achmet, the captain of our boat, the portly 
Reis of the Cataracts, and the surviving chameleon — for 
the other, drooping for some days past, had died on the 
island — altogether a tremendous freight. We started, 
held back for a while by a rope till we reached the line 
of the rapid; then they let go, and, without rope or 
guidance except the helm, we rushed down between the 
rocks, cleared them to a wish, and, in a few seconds, 
reached still water, and rowed to the shore, where we 
were kindly greeted by the Kiashef. The baggage 
landed, Missirie arranged a mat and divan, and we sat 
down and talked with him for an hour or so, waiting 
for the camels which he had sent from Essouan to 
carry our baggage. He had also brought donkeys for 
us, and we accepted a most cordial invitation to dine 
with him, and lodge in his apartments at the Govern- 
ment-house. No camels appearing, and the day wear- 
ing, we started for Essouan on the Kiashef 's own 
donkeys, for this good Samaritan would not suffer us 
to mount the hired beasts, or to pay for them on our 
arrival. We had ridden but a few r minutes, when we 
met the camels towering along at their stately slow 
pace. — I should have mentioned, by-the-bye, that, on 
landing, we let the little chameleon go ; Missirie took 
it to a grassy spot, where I dare say it has been enjoy- 



140 



ROAD TO ESSOUAN. 



ing itself, after the fashion of chameleons, ever since. 
Poor little thing ! its adventures surpass even those of 
the " Travelled Ant," in the Evenings at Home ! 

Our road to Essouan lay just within the edge of the 
eastern desert, through the wildest scenery : — a ravine, 
which we could only thread our way through one at a 
time, opening into a broad sandy plain, like the dry 
bed of a river — both plain and ravine edged in by 
rocks of the most extraordinary shapes, piled one on 
another like the fragments of an earlier world — black 
and massy — not a blade of vegetation, — contrasting 
strangely with sheets of the finest white sand, spark- 
ling as snow, and rippled all over by the wind, lying 
here and there in broad wreaths between them,— and a 
clear evening sky above us, for the day had brightened 
after the storm. The sandy valley ends in the cemetery 
of old Escouan, the Saracenic town, depopulated (as I 
mentioned above) centuries ago by the plague, and 
deserted ever since. Hundreds of tombstones, carved 
with inscriptions in the old Cufic character, lie on 
each side the road ; ruined mosques, and the shattered 
Avails of the old town, crown the hills on the left, and 
had a most singular appearance, relieved against the 
sunset sky. I could scarcely have imagined anything 
more dreary than the desert, that deathbed of nature f 
but a cemetery in the desert, and that the forgotten one 
of a deserted town, strikes cold to the heart. 

It was dusk by the time we dismounted at the 
Kiashef's harem, the first house we came to ; he 
brought out a couple of arm-chairs, and gave us a most 
acceptable cup of coffee, and then, leading the way to 
the Government-house, ushered us into the presence- 
chamber, as I suppose I must call it, where the Bey 
gives audience during the summer. 

Here we again smoked our pipes, and drank the 



ESSOUAN. 



141 



coffee of our hospitable friend. William and myself, 
seated in arm-chairs of state — the Kiashef (as grave 
and silent as a judge now he was among his country- 
men) and a Turkish officer, on two plain chairs — and 
the Armenian secretary cross-legged on his mat — 
formed our party, and a very pleasant one it was, for 
nothing could be more cordial than their attentions. 

Dinner at last made its appearance. Napkins were 
first given us ; then raisins, and a fiery liqueur made of 
aniseed, were placed on the table as a whet ; then came 
the dishes dressed a la Turque, which we partook of 
a VAnglaise ; the Turks ate after their fashion, dipping 
in the dishes very neatly, with pieces of bread for 
spoons, — little was said during the meal, for the Turks 
don't talk on such occasions ; lastly, a servant brought 
water to each of us, to wash our hands, pouring it over 
them, — then coffee again. We had a good deal of con- 
versation afterwards, through Abdallah and a Nubian 
who had travelled with Lord Belmore some years ago, 
and spoke a little Italian. The officer spoke highly of 
his own achievements in the chase, of having killed 
(and eaten r) a lion, &c. &c. A lion, he told us, would 
never attack a woman, even armed:— 

" Tis said that the lion will turn and flee 
From a maid in the pride of her purity — " 

I did not expect to hear a sentiment of chivalry in this 
part of the world. 

About nine we rose and wished the party good night. 
Missirie, we found, had made our rooms comfortable in 
the extreme, putting up the camp-bedsteads, making a 
divan of the cushions of the boat, and getting the things 
in order ; everything almost had been saved. We were 
much the better for our tea, as you may suppose, and 
read and wrote afterwards till bedtime, by the light 



142 



ESSOUAN. 



of an immense Turkish candle stuck in the orange- 
basket. 

Next morning, before we were up, Wellee Kiashef 
had been to see us, and had smoked three pipes ; he 
returned about ten, and breakfasted with us ; he drank 
his tea and ate his omelet with great apparent satis- 
faction, and afterwards smoked his pipe again, seated 
on the divan, and cherishing his foot. The Armenian 
secretary also came to see us. An Abyssinian boy 
attended, the Kiashef's page, and apparently a great 
favourite, respectful, but without servility ; the Kiashef 
spoke kindly to him, and the boy made his observations 
freely, though modestly, — the henchman stood at the 
door, like Evan MacCombich in Waverley. William 
gave the Kiashef a musical snuff-box, which he seemed 
pleased with. After staying about an hour, he again 
inquired whether he could do anything for us, and pro- 
tested, on our repeating our gratitude for his past kind- 
ness, that really it was " nothing — nothing." He then 
rose to go, and, with kind wishes and salams, we 
parted. 

We then started, with Abdallah, for the Cataracts, to 
see after the boat It was a lovely day, but so hot that 
we had almost resolved on giving up the walk, when 
the appearance of some donkeys that we had counter- 
manded determined us to proceed. I was glad to see 
the Saracenic tombs again in broad daylight ; the head- 
stones are in perfect preservation, many of them lying 
quite loose — dear Anne would have enjoyed a walk 
among them, — she is ' tout a fait Sai^enique,' as Ca- 
viglia would say. 

We followed nearly the same route as yesterday, and 
were equally delighted with the extraordinary scenery. 
Before descending to the river, we took a last look at 
Philse in the distance, and its beautiful temple. The 



WALK TO THE CATARACTS. 



143 



boat, we found, had kept its place during the night ; 
the Reis of the Cataracts was there with his men, and 
they were stopping up the leaks in order to bring her 
to the bank, that they might get her ready for coming 
down to Essouan the next morning. Swarms of Nubian 
children clustered around us with curiosities for sale ; 
we bought some necklaces and bracelets of red and 
white beads and straws, (they show beautifully on a 
black skin,) and several fetiches, or amulets, which 
they wear generally under the right arm— the dagger 
under the left ; the latter even the children carry. Wil- 
liam dissected one of these fetiches afterwards, and 
found a long roll of paper inside, covered with Arabic 
writing and mystical diagrams, magical and astrological 
apparently. 

The fearlessness of the boatmen, their intimate ac- 
quaintance with every eddy of the river, and their 
dexterity in manoeuvring, struck us with admiration ; 
while we were standing there, a vessel in full sail, 
every oar plied, ascended half the rapid, landed some 
of the crew on a projecting rock, and then floated back 
again, the broadside to the stream ; the most graceful, 
lady-like retreat imaginable. 

After sauntering about, identifying the scenes of our 
first and second passage, we returned by a Nubian 
village built on the shore in a grove of date trees, — 
plenty of women and children — no reserve in the 
former, though one of them, whenever we looked at 
her, hid her face like the Arab women, for fear of the 
evil eye probably; the boys were naked, most of them; 
the little girls wear belts of small leathern thongs. 
One of the children danced before us, naked, and 
brandishing a short spear, a thorough young cannibal. 

Next morning we crossed to Elephantine, and had 
another delightful stroll over the lovely island. It was 



144 



ESSOUAN. 



a heavenly day, still and thoughtful ; the broad Nile 
lay before us, sparkling as if with a thousand eyes ; 
the fishermen were paddling about on their catama- 
rans — I have called them so. inadvisedly, perhaps, but 
they much resemble those used at Madras, if the 
descriptions I have read be correct ; they consist of a 
log of wood, fixed between two bundles of reeds tied 
together at the two extremities ; the fisher sits on it, 
not astride, like the Indian, but as on a sledge, and 
with his single paddle strikes twice or thrice on each 
side alternately, zigzagging it like a water-fly. I 
thought the Isle of Flowers lovelier than ever! 

Sunday morning we had a delightful walk along 
the heights beyond old Syene. A solitary forsaken 
minaret, or watch-tower, crowns the brow of one of the 
hills; we climbed up it, and read the service there — 
some boys who had followed us the whole morning 
with curiosities for sale, must have thought us magi- 
cians. We extended our walk much further. Every 
hill is crowned with a mosque, all now forsaken; in 
one of them that we entered, the arches were all 
pointed — it is among the tombs and mosques of Old 
Essouan that Mr. Wilkinson thinks the earliest speci- 
mens may be found of that style of architecture. The 
oldest known at present is the mosque of Sultan Ahmed 
e' Tayloon at Cairo, erected a. d. 879. 

I was reading, most comfortably disjDOsed on the 
divan, that afternoon, when William entered with a 
gentleman from India, one of a party of three who 
had started from Phila? in the morning— his friends by 
land, having heard of our disaster — himself, more 
adventurous, by water. The Reis presumed to pilot 
the boat without a rope ; the consequence was, that 
she was hurried by the current against the rocks, and 
her bottom completely and irreparably stove in. The 



ESSOUAN. 



145 



captain went as frantic as ours did, forgot even his 
child, which was left in the boat; Mr. Clarke, our 
new acquaintance, caught it up and swam to land. 
William met Mr. C. on the shore, and advised his 
applying for rooms in the Government-house, which 
were granted immediately. 

Soon afterwards the other gentlemen arrived; we 
asked them, of course, to dinner. Mr. Clarke, a very 
pleasing, gentleman-like young officer, proved to be 
the son of Dr. Edward Clarke, the celebrated traveller; 
his companions were Dr. Mac Lennan, the distin- 
guished physician, chef d'hopital, I believe, at Bom- 
bay — so kindly mentioned by poor Victor Jacquemont 
in his last letter to his brother, — and Mr. Southhouse, 
also in the Indian service. We spent a very pleasant 
evening, and at night sent them some cloaks and the 
cushions of our divan to sleep on, none of their things 
having arrived from the wreck. 

Messrs. Mac Lennan and Southhouse breakfasted 
with us next morning ; Clarke, like a man of his word, 
had gone betimes to the boat, having promised the 
men to do so. He found them very hungry, and yet 
they had not touched their master's provisions, nor 
attacked the fowls in the hencoop > one poor fellow 
being quite naked, he arrayed him in a shooting-jacket 
and knee-breeches ; a strange figure he must have cut! 

They all three dined with us, and, after another 
agreeable evening, we parted on the stairhead — such a 
night it was ! I stood long there watching it, — bril- 
liant, and yet inexpressibly soft and lovely, the stars, 
varying in tint and apparent distance, twinkling 
through the whispering date-trees, or crowning them 
like diamonds on the forehead of beauty. 

Finally, on Tuesday morning, the 31st of January, 
a. d. 1837, we started for Thebes, after bidding our 

L 



146 



ROCK TEMPLE OF EBSAMBUL. 



Indian friends farewell. They felt most kindly on the 
subject of the trifling attentions we had paid them, and 
expressed it not only by words but deeds ; think of 
Clarke's sending us half a dozen of Hodson's ale, an 
Indian luxury, and Dr. Mac Lennan a dozen of 
Madeira, and four bottles of Constantia ! What sun- 
shiny days such are in human life ! 

And so we bade adieu to Essouan — sorrowfully, at 
least on my part ; I had received kindness there, and 
had shared with William in showing it to others. I 
took more than one last look at the noble rocks, and 
the minaret we visited on Sunday, conspicuous from 
afar on the hill beyond them, and the lovely Isle of 
Flowers — never, probably, to greet her again ! They 
had become "things familiar" to us, and it was painful 

"Even from their lifelessness to part." 

Since that morning we have been leading our Nile 
life again, the old routine ; the vessel is all right, and 
everything goes on as it did before our wreck. What 
mercies all these are to be grateful for ! 

P.S. — I find, on looking over " fytte the second" of 
this interminable epistle, (I hope you will not consider 
it a romance,) that I have omitted all mention of our 
visit to the magnificent temple of Re, ( 39 ) or the Sun, at 
Ebsambul, near Wady Haifa, discovered by Burckhardt, 
and opened by Belzoni, Irby, and Mangles : — two 
words only — I must not pass over the most stupendous 
excavation in the whole valley of the Nile. 

You enter between four enormous statues of Rameses 
the Great, about sixty feet in height, seated — the ex- 
pression of countenance almost feminine in its mild 
beauty ; they are admirably sculptured, in full relief, 
their backs scarcely resting against the rock ; looking 
up at them ixom the southern and shadowy angle of the 



ROCK TEMPLE OF EBSAMBUL. 



147 



excavation, their sublimity is, indeed, almost over- 
powering. 

The doorway is surmounted by a beautiful sculpture 
of the hawk-headed deity Osiris, and that by a frieze 
of hieroglyphics, above which — strange finish for such 
a work ! — sit a row of monkeys, — but nothing, however 
quaint or extraordinary, is out of character in Egyptian 
architecture. 

Descending between the colossal statues, you enter 
the great hall, supported on each side by four columns, 
faced with gigantic statues reaching to the ceiling, 
similar in dress to those we saw at Guerf Hassan, but, 
in proportions and execution, far finer ; nor are they so 
awful — you have room to look at these — there you felt 
the passage between such monsters too narrow. 

The temple was excavated soon after the accession 
of Rameses, and the sculptures seem to refer chiefly to 
his earliest campaigns. On either side of the door, 
inside, is a gigantic figure of the Conqueror, holding 
by the hair a group of kneeling captives, back to back, 
and about to slay them ; they are of different nations 
and colours — you distinguish blacks of various castes, 
and the same Shorii, with the forked beards and aqui- 
line noses, who die so nobly at Beit Wellee. The 
sculptures on the south wall appear to record his 
victories over this people. Standing on his chariot, 
drawn by two horses, with the usual feathers on their 
heads, the rein fastened to his girdle behind him, his 
bow in his hand — a perfect arc — Rameses pours his 
unerring arrows on the enemy, many of whom have 
already fallen, and others vainly try to avoid them ; 
farther on, dismounted and trampling on one of their 
chiefs, he seizes another by the arm, and pierces him 
with his lance. On the opposite or northern wall are 
sculptured battles on a smaller scale, spirited, but in- 

L 2 



148 



HERMENT. 



ferior to those of Thebes — the preparation for the 
battle, the parting of a warrior and his wife, the clash of 
chariots and riders, and horses falling under the arrows 
of the Egyptians — all the tumult of war and bloodshed. 
After all, these war-scenes are composed in the very 
spirit of a Highland pibroch ; the gathering, the ad- 
vance, the battle, the song of triumph, the welcome 
home, and the coronach for the dead — you hear, and 
you see them all. 

Beyond this noble hall, there are a second, sup- 
ported by square columns, a cella, and an adytum, with 
four deities seated at the extremity, and an altar before 
them, as at Guerf Hassan ; besides many lateral cham- 
bers of inferior interest. 

There are several other temples of much interest 
between Wady Haifa and Essouan ; but I will only 
mention one of them — that of Hermes Trismegistus at 
Dakke— beautiful ! beautiful ! What fame such a visit 
would have conferred on us in the good old days of 
astrology, alchemy, and the Black Art !* 

Section III. 

**Eytte the Second" has kept, upon the whole, so free 
from antiquities, that I shall make no apology to my 
dear mother for reverting to that seducing subject in 
the present, after which it will be 

" Adew, ye get nae mair of me" 

on the subject of Egypt. 

* " Dandour, Jan. 24. The temple is a small one, and hardly 
mentioned in the books, but is very interesting. The turn of the 
ornaments on the doors, &c, is elegant, and the hieroglyphics, 
though not of the palmy days of Rameses EL, are of that substan- 
tially good style, which never offends the eye by any glaring 
defects or false drawing and taste." — Mr. Ramsay's Journal, 



HERMENT. 



149 



Thebes I have said more than enough about already ; 
but there is a little temple at Herment, old Hermonthis, 
a few hours' sail to the south of it, well worth mention- 
ing as a rich mythological museum, and invested, 
moreover, with peculiar interest as having been built 
by the unblushing Cleopatra, to commemorate the 
birth of Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar. I was 
much struck at finding it a perfect Augean stable, dis- 
gustingly filthy within, and plastered without with 
cakes of dung, drying for fuel. The accouchement of 
the goddess Bitho, symbolical of Cleopatra's, is sculp- 
tured in the adytum, and the scheme of young 
Caesarion's nativity on the ceiling.* ( 40 j 

Nor must I wholly pass over the far-famed temple of 
Dendera, a most extraordinary pile, unlike anything 
we had seen in Egypt, at once grotesque in its details 
and magnificent in its general effect, and in perfect 
preservation. The ceiling of the portico is covered 
with astronomical subjects, representing, for the most 
part, the procession of the Sun and Moon, in their 

* " Feb. 5. Rose off the temple of Hermonthis, which we 
visited before breakfast. It is interesting, and differs from any we 
have yet seen in style and appearance, which are such as to have 
induced Dr. Richardson, and other travellers before the hierogly- 
phical discoveries were made, to consider it as one of the oldest in 
Egypt. It seems never to have been completed ; at least the ovals 
for the names have never been filled up in the interior of the 
temple, and very few on the outside. The portico is composed of 
tall pillars in the style of that age, but not very graceful, from 
being too near each other. The interior is very simple, consisting 
of two chambers, very lofty and very gloomy; the furthest and 
smallest one seems merely a slice of the whole building, built off, 
and, consequently, its length is the breadth of the temple, its width 
not above three yards, and its height equal to the other. A window 
at the top throws light on the roof, which has been called a zodiac, 
and bears some appearance of being so. It is a strange device, in 
all probability an astrological scheme of nativity of the young 



150 



DENDERA. 



barks of state, through the signs of the zodiac ; each 
zodiac is involved within the interminable body of that 
celestial boa, Nith, the mother of the Sun, whose 
beams are represented, at the moment of his birth, 
illuminating the disk of the moon. Strange mytholo- 
gical fancies are sculptured here — snakes, for instance, 
with human arms or legs, or erect on their tails, pre- 
senting offerings, &c. When the sepoys were here, 
they recognised the gods of India in those sculptured 
on the walls, and worshipped with the same ceremonies 
they would have performed at Benares. This of itself 
proves the brotherhood of the two religions.* ( 41 ) 

A deadly feud raged whilom between the crocodile- 
haters of Dendera, and the crocodile-worshippers of 
Ombos; one of the latter having fallen into the clutches 
of the Tentyrites, " they eat him up, baith stoup and 
roup," as Satan and his crew are said to have served 
the victor of Culloden. Near the temple of Ombos (a 
noble relic) is a large wall of crude brick, on which, 
Dr. Richardson supposes, the sacred crocodile took 

Csesarion. On the walls are represented the birth, education, &c, 
of the same child, or rather of the young God Haphre, his patron, 
I suppose. Astronomical subjects cover the ends of the room. In 
the larger apartment is a strange series of designs ; the child is pre- 
sented to all the different gods, and the whole show of the divine 
menagerie is exhibited — cats, dogs, crocodiles, &c, as well as the 
hideous figures of Typhon and his consort. A winged scarabseus, 
with the globe, also the winged hawk, are conspicuous objects over 
the door, where the child is seated on the horns of the bull Apis. 
The demon Typhon is the only one I have ever seen represented 
with his face towards the spectator, and his body turned half so, 
between front and profile — and this only in one other place, where 
he is made of enormous size and hideous deformity. A house is 
built on the top of this temple, and it stands in a dungyard." — 
Mr. Ramsay s Joumat. 

* "Dendera. However grand and stupendous this temple may 
be, it is not worthy of the lavish encomiums most travellers indulge 



TOMBS OF BENI HASSAN. 



151 



his daily airing, and, below it, the tank in which he 
bathed — poor wretch, to be debarred his own imperial 
Nile! 

The granite quarries at Hadjar Silsili are wondrous 
indeed! What think you of squares a hundred feet 
deep, and as spacious as those of London, cut out of 
the mountain, and communicating with each other by 
long winding streets or passages ? 

At Beni Hassan we visited the oldest tombs we have 
seen in Egypt, excavated in Osirte sen's time, seventeen 
centuries before our Saviour. The owner of one of 
them seems to have been a regular sporting character; 
his dogs stand by his side in the full-length portrait 
drawn of him, as is usually the case, in one corner of 
the tomb ; hunting, fowling, and fishing scenes are 
represented in other compartments ; a mock fight, and 
the successive rounds of a wrestling match, (or, pro- 
bably, of several, for there are scores of groups, ex- 
hibiting every attitude and vicissitude of the struggle,) 
adorn the extremity of the tomb. These wrestling 
matches are found in most of the tombs at Beni 

in — perhaps because it is the first they see in Egypt, whether in 
.ascending the Nile, or coming overland from India. It bear, 
extreme evidence of the great decadence of art at the period of its 
erection. The spirit which animated the early ages in this country 
had long passed away, the forms only remained — these were pre- 
served scrupulously by the interested zeal of the priests, and under 
the Romish rule, which considered all religions equally useful, were 
dignified by such dedications as this. But the peculiar turn of 
spirit which breathes from even the most insignificant remains of 
the Pharacnic period, is quite wanting here ; it is dead, formal, and 
in details quite uninteresting — or, if one's curiosity be excited by 
the zodiacs and planispheres which are one of the peculiar features 
of this temple, the fact again recurs to the mind, that they are, 
after all, but priestly imitations of what we have already seen in 
the tombs of the Pharaohs; made to be stared at, not felt and 
understood."— Mr. Ramsay s Journal. 



152 



SITE OF MEMPHIS. 



Hassan ; it was evidently a science in Egypt at a very 
early period. 

The game of draughts, two seven- stringed harps, the 
trick of tossing up and catching three balls successively, 
the pirouette with extended arms, practised by figu- 
rantes in the modern opera, and the attendance of 
dwarfs on the Egyptian nobles, are among the note- 
worthy objects depicted in these curious sepulchres. 
The columns that support them are of two orders, both 
extremely primitive ; polygonal, like those of Thebes, 
slightly fluted, and very elegant ; or, simply, four lotus- 
stalks tied together by a broad band under the buds. 

And now, my dear mother, I have almost done. You 
must be sick of temples and tombs ; I fear many things 
I have expatiated on, in the hope of their amusing 
you, must have failed to do so ; but all I can say in 
excuse is, that I have spared you much. I shall con- 
tinue, however, to write lengthily, for I think you and 
Anne will be pleased to follow me, step by step, 
throughout my pilgrimage. Memphis is the only place 
we have now to visit; in two or three days we shall 
arrive at Cairo, but shall be very sorry to bid adieu to 
the little bark that has been our home so long, and in 
which we have become so thoroughly domesticated. 

Port of Cairo, 23rd Feb. 

We arrived here this evening, but do not intend 
landing till to-morrow ; this is the last night we are to 
spend on board the Hippopotamus ! 

We have spent the whole day in visiting the site of 
Memphis and the pyramids of Dashour and Saccara. 
Mounds and embankments, a few broken stones, and 
two colossal statues, disinterred a few years ago by our 
friend Caviglia, are the solitary remains of the ancient 
capital of Lower Egypt. We rode for miles through 



PYRAMIDS OF DASHOUR AND SACCARA. 



153 



groves of palm and acacia, cultivated fields, and wastes 
of sand, over what we knew must be the site of 
Memphis, but every other vestige of her ancient 
grandeur has disappeared. Noph is, indeed, " waste 
and desolate." 

The colossus of Rameses the Great, forty feet in 
height, lies on its face — the workmanship beautiful, the 
features (mild and benignant) in perfect preservation. 
This was, without doubt, one of the six statues (of him- 
self, his wife, and four of his sons) erected by Rameses 
in front of the great temple of Vulcan, which, from the 
descriptions of the ancients, must have been a wonder 
of the world. A short distance to the south lies a small 
statue, about ten or twelve feet high, we thought, and 
which, perhaps, belonged to the edifice where the bull 
Apis was kept and exhibited, which lay in that direc- 
tion according to Herodotus. This is all : — how truly 
has the prophecy been fulfilled, " I will destroy the 
idols, and will cause their images to cease out of 

Noph i" n 

Near the temple of Vulcan, the site of which is now 
completely overgrown with date-trees, lay the Lake 
Acherusia — whence the fictions of Charon and his boat, 
and the Elysian fields. We crossed the dry bed on 
our way to Saccara. The Sheikh and his friends were 
enjoying otium cum dignitate under an acacia, as we 
rode past the village. The groves of acacia near 
Saccara and ilitraheni are mentioned eighteen hun- 
dred years ago. 

The principal pyramid at Saccara is built in five 
degrees, or steps, like the Tower of Babel ; there is 
another, some leagues to the south, similarly built, and 
called the False Pyramid ; magnificent at a distance, it 
loses its grandeur in proportion to the nearness of your 
approach. 



154 PYRAMIDS OF DASHOUa AND SACCARA. 



The two great Pyramids of Dashour are very beauti- 
ful, each about seven hundred feet square, but of much 
lower elevation than those of Djizeh. We descended 
into the northern one by a steep and sloping passage, 
for two hundred feet, and crawling on our wrists and 
feet some yards farther, on a level, found ourselves 
in the first of two lofty chambers, connected by a low 
passage, and leading to a third by another passage, the 
entrance to which was too high for us to reach it without 
a ladder. The structure of these apartments is very 
remarkable, each successive course of stone, beginning 
from about ten or eleven feet from the ground, project- 
ing about six inches beyond the one below it, till the 
two walls meet. It is said to resemble the inside of the 
Cyclopean or Peiasgic building at Argos, popularly 
called the Treasury of Atreus. 

We rode between many other pyramids, some of them 
still preserving their shape, though partially covered 
with sand, others already sinking into tumuli, or enor- 
mous barrows ; these latter are, perhaps, the oldest 
of all. 

A curious root, transparent and juicy as a white 
radish, grows here under the sand, betraying its exist- 
ence by a tiny stalk, as thin as a blade of grass, shooting 
above the surface. Southey, I think, alludes to it in 
one of his poems. 

The ride from Saccara to the point where we regained 
the boat, about an hour north of a place called Sheikh 
Etmin, was very beautiful — through extensive palm- 
groves clustering round Arab villages and encampments 
of the Bedouins — wandering Ishmaelites — the pyramids 
of Djizeh, contemporary with their father Abraham, 
towering in the distance. 



COLONEL VYSE. 



155 



February 24. 

Once more at Grand Cairo— soon, I hope, to leave 
it for Mount Sinai, Petra, and Jerusalem — for such is 
the route we intend attempting. We shall travel on 
camels and dromedaries, and sleep in tents, like the 
patriarchs. 

Adieu, my dear mother ! 

P.S. — You will be glad to hear that I have sent our 
friend the Kiashef a little Arabic library, consisting of 
Robinson Crusoe, two or three books on history, the 
Arabic atlas I mentioned in my last letter from Cairo, 
a summary of the Old, and the whole of the New Tes- 
tament. Adieu once more. 

March 2. 

P.S. (bis.) — We visited the Pyramids yesterday, and 
were most kindly received by Colonel Vyse, who is car- 
rying on his researches there in person, Caviglia having 
quitted the fields He has attacked the three Pyramids 
and the Sphinx, all at once, with a troop of two hun- 
dred Arabs. In Cheops's — he is in hopes of discovering 
the chamber above Davison's, and an entrance on the 
western side, corresponding to that on the northern in 
its degree of distance from the centre, calculating that, 
the one being so many feet to the left, the other will be 
as many to the right of it. We saw an immense stone, 
that his workmen had dislodged, roll down the side of 
the pyramid ; it was sad to see the sleep of four thou- 
sand years so rudely broken ! 

Colonel Vyse is cutting right into the heart of the 
third pyramid, but as yet has found no chamber ; when 
he reaches the centre, he intends boring right up and 
down. He has bored thirty feet into the Sphinx, in 
expectation of finding the chamber said to exist inside 



156 



COLONEL VYSE. 



it — as yet without effect. He has many other ideas 
experimenting, and I should not be surprised if he 
make some curious discoveries.* 

We dined with him, and returned to Cairo, much 
gratified with his kind attentions, the same afternoon. 

* Colonel Vyse's success subsequent to our visit to him at the 
Pyramids has indeed been most gratifying. For a full account of 
his remarkable discoveries, and of those earned on subsequently by 
his coadjutor, Mr. Perring, see the ''Operations carried on at the 
Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837, &c. by Colonel Howard Vyse," Lond. 
3 vols. 1840; and the large work by Mr. Perring. [1847.] 



LETTERS 

ON 

EDOM AND THE HOLY 



LAND. 



" Egypt sna ^ De a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wil- 
derness, for their violence against the sons of Judah, because they 
shed innocent blood in their land ; 

44 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem shall remain 
from generation to generation ; 

44 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged : and 
Jehovah will dwell in Sion." 

Joel, iii. 19, 20, 21. — Abp. Newcomes translation. 

44 Those holy fields, 
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet, 
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd, 
For our advantage, on the bitter cross." 

1 King Henry IV. 



EDOM AND THE HOLY LAND. 



LETTER I. 

Journey to Mount Sinai. Desert of Suez — Mara— Route of the 
Israelites — Wady Shellal — Wady Mokatteb — Wadi Feiran — 
Ascent to the Sinaite Mountains — Ascent of Mount St. Catherine 
—Of Gebel Mousa—-Of Gebel Minnegia, possibly the real Sinai. 

Convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, 
March 21, 1837. 

My dear Anne, — Finding a Polish pilgrim here, 
about to return to Cairo, I seize the opportunity of 
letting you and my dear mother know, a month sooner 
than otherwise I could, how well we have got on 
hitherto, and under what peculiarly favourable au- 
spices we are likely to continue our journey by Petra 
to Jerusalem. 

On Monday, the 6th of March, we started on our 
voyage through the desert, (*) a caravan of ten camels, 
with two tents, one for our followers, Missirie and 
Abdallah, the other (an Indian one, of bamboos) for 
ourselves. We arrived at Suez on the fourth day. The 
hot kamsin, or southerly wind, blew violently all Mon- 
day, bringing clouds of sand, and pelting us with small 
pebbles, which made our Arab gillie-comstrains skip, as 
they rattled against their naked legs— never was I in a 
heavier hail-storm; luckily, I had provided myself at 



160 



DESERT OF SUEZ. 



Cairo with a Turkish scarf, which protected my eyes ; 
rny lips were parched and chapped for several days 
afterwards, and a book in rny pocket was scorched as 
if it had been held to the fire. But we were fairly in 
the desert — delightful thought! pilgrims following the 
steps of the Israelites to the Promised Land. 

We halted a little before sunset, and pitched the 
smaller of our two tents (the wind being too high for 
the other) in a hollow between two mounds, which 
afforded a few thoms and tufts of arid grass for the 
camels, and tolerable shelter for ourselves. I really 
felt ashamed when we were fairly established in the 
tent, seated on our iron bedsteads, with a table, our old 
shipmate on the Nile, between us — it was far too com- 
fortable. It blew quite a storm the first part of the 
night, and we thought the tent would have flown away, 
but it weathered it,— we were covered with sand when 
we awoke on Tuesday morning; much rain succeeded, 
but it cleared up before we started, and the day turned 
out delightful; there was little sunshine, but the wind 
had changed to the west, a fresh exhilarating breeze. 

The weather, indeed, has been charming ever since. 
I always commenced the day with a long walk; nothing 
can be more enjoyable, — the desert, half gravel, half 
sand, crunches under the feet like snow, — sometimes 
bounded by low hills, sometimes it stretches out into 
an interminable plain, but always of the same unvaried 
hue. We passed skeletons of camels repeatedly, and 
scattered bones bleached to the whiteness of snow; 
and, one morning, prowling about near our encamp- 
ment, I found an open grave and a skull grinning up 
into my face within it — the relic, doubtless, of some 
hapless pilgrim. Melancholy memorials these ! but 
all was not death there; a frog, a species of gray 
lizard, some quails and vultures, were symptoms of 



DESERT OF SUEZ. 



161 



animal — and various thorny shrubs, a few wild flowers, 
and a strongly scented plant, (a species of wild camo- 
mile we thought it,) called by the Arabs behharran— 
of vegetable life; nor should I forget a solitary tree, 
long conspicuous on the horizon with the apparent 
dignity of a palm, but w T hieh dwindled, long before we 
reached it, into a stunted thorn, covered with rags 
streaming in the wind, hung there by every pilgrim as 
he passes en chemin for Mecca. The half-eaten carcass 
of a camel lay beneath it, and the vultures that had 
been garbaging on it flew heavily away at our ap- 
proach. 

I should have told you that the route we took was 
that by Mataria, past the ancient Heliopolis, and so 
north of Gebel Ataka, a long and picturesque ridge of 
hills, which we coasted all the third day; of a clear 
pinky gray in the morning, it assumed a deep iron 
colour after sunset, as the rays died away ; it slants to 
the southward, as you approach Suez. The Israelites 
arriving at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness, from 
the north-west, the land of Goshen, turned southwards, 
a day's journey, to Pihahiroth, " the mouth of the 
ridge," i.e. of this very mountain Ataka; closed in by 
the mountains on each side, with the sea in front and 
Pharaoh behind, they could only have been saved by 
such a miraculous interposition as that which is still 
traditionally remembered in the Arabic name Ataka, or 
Deliverance. 

On Thursday we started, with the Arabian moun- 
tains, and, as we conceived, the Red Sea, in front of 
us ; it was the mirage ! A ship, too, was curiously 
refracted in the clouds before we came in actual sight 
of either ship or sea. 

Kodsy Manueli, a Candiote Greek, the East India 
Company's agent at Suez, and a shrewd, intelligent 

M 



162 



SHEIKH HUSSEIN. 



man,* received us with great hospitality, and we found 
there — and this is the news that I think will please you, 
the celebrated Hussein, who accompanied Laborde to 
Petra ten years ago. We struck a bargain with him 
to convey us to Sinai, and have since engaged him to 
accompany us during the rest of our travels in Arabia. 
" An excellent warrior and hunter," says Laborde, 
" and renowned for his generous hospitality, he unites 
in himself all the qualities which render a Bedouin 
respectable, especially those of so much importance to 
the traveller, unimpeachable integrity, discretion which 
always deserves to be confided in, and, what is very 
rare, genuine fidelity." He is the principal of the three 
guardians or protectors of the Convent of Mount Sinai, 
and is known and respected wherever he goes. Laborde 
made all his arrangements with the other tribes through 
him, and so shall we.f 

Hussein and I have become great friends; many a 
kind pat on the back have I had from him. Our inti- 
macy commenced with a long walk one morning, when 
he and I took one road while the caravan went the 
other ; we had a great deal of pleasant and most ani- 
mated conversation ; acting, gesticulating, drawing with 
my stick on the sand, and the judicious use of the very 
few Arabic words I have perforce picked up, were gene- 
rally sufficient to make myself understood. We out- 
walked the camels, and sat and chatted a quarter of an 
hour or twenty minutes under the shadow of a project- 

* Superseded shortly afterwards by an English Yice-Consul, 
under whom he acted as dragoman when Dr. Robinson passed 
through Suez. An English hotel has been established there for 
several years, and stations at intervals on the route across the desert 
from Cairo have deprived it of its ancient solitary charm. [1847.] 

t Dr. Robinson, who met him a year afterwards at Mount Sinai, 
describes him as "now head Sheikh of his tribe, the Oulad Said." 
Biblical Researches, §*c, vol. i, p. 138. [1847.] 



OUR BEDOUINS 



1G3 



ing rock, before they came up. My recollection of the 
names and" countries" of certain of the Arab clans, 
allusions to Antar, and such-like scraps of Arab tradi- 
tion, have stood me in great stead. I have got much 
information from Hussein, through Abdallah, for what- 
ever interesting point I asked him about — (do not 
mistake me — I don't believe I am master of more than 
a dozen words of Arabic) — I always repeated through 
the interpreter. 

Hussein provided us with eleven camels, those of 
Arabia not being so strong as the Egyptian breed, 
besides two dromedaries for riding ; a dromedary is to 
a camel what a race-horse is to a dray-horse — there is 
no generic difference ; the Bactrian camel only has the 
two humps commonly attributed to the dromedary. 
Most of the camels were accompanied by their owners, 
all of whom, two excepted, were of Hussein's tribe, 
which, I should have told you, is the Waled Said, the 
principal branch of the Zoalia, the first in consideration 
of the Tora, or Sinaite, clans. The political constitution 
of these Bedouin tribes strongly resembles that of our 
own clans in Scotland; each is divided into several 
septs, governed by subordinate Sheikhs or Chieftains, 
under whom the clansmen rally without prejudice to 
the patriarchal supremacy of the High Chief of the 
whole race, to whom the chieftains owe the same 
deference that the clansmen in general pay themselves. 
My heart warms to these Bedouin Highlanders, and 
the Tora tribes are a peculiarly fine race ; the whole 
party, indeed, were good-humoured, hearty fellows.* 

All of us, masters and men, were armed to the teeth, 

* " Hassan, Hussein's younger brother, accompanied him — the 
merry-hearted Hassan, ever smiling and full of fun— he was a great 
favourite with us." Orig. Journal. [1847.] 

M 2 



164 



BEDOUIN COSTUME. 



William with rifle and gun, myself with holster pistols; 
every Arab had his sikkeen, or short sword, and some 
of them long matchlock guns, ornamented with pebbles, 
shells, and Turkish coins, and they use them very 
expertly. One of them, unpoetical villain ! shot a young 
gazelle one morning, and had the barbarity to press 
me to eat it. 

Their attire was very simple, — the kefia, or kerchief 
of the desert, loosely and gracefully tied round the head 
by a piece of rope, or a turban — a long white robe of 
rather cumbrous drapery, though sometimes of lighter 
material, secured by a girdle — a long blue cloak, 
(peculiar, I believe, to the Arabs of this peninsula,) 
and sandals of fish-skin, secured across the instep, and 
by clasps at the ankles, exposing the foot as in scripture 
paintings — a small kneading trough or bowl, a leathern 
bottle for water, a pipe, tobacco-pouch, and sometimes 
the short crook-headed stick, represented in the hand 
of Osiris in the Egyptian sculptures, completed their 
equipment. Throw away the pipe and tobacco, (many 
of the Bedouins, however — our friend Hussein, for 
instance — never smoke,) — substitute a lance or a sword 
for that ignoble weapon the gun,andany one of them might 
sit for a portrait of the Caliph Omar ; you cannot but 
remember the striking picture your favourite Ockley 
draws of him, on his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. 

So much for our guides, — a word or two on our own 
mode of travelling. I walked generally, for the first 
three or four hours, in advance of the caravan, resting 
every now and then under a shadowy rock or shrub, 
where such was to be found, till it came up, and then off 
again. Mounted — I read, mused, talked with William, 
or the Bedouins, through Abdallah, and took notes, 
till near halting-time, when I generally took another 
walk. We soon got accustomed to the camels' pace, 



EVENINGS IN THE DESERT. 



165 



which we were told was so fatiguing. ( 2 ) The caravan 
advances at a regular and certain pace, about three 
miles an hour; but the individual animals proceed very 
irregularly, stopping every now and then to graze on 
the thorny shrubs and scented plants with which the 
Arabian desert (particularly) abounds ; the drivers 
humour them in this, and are constantly leaving the 
road, and even scrambling up the rocks, for a handful 
of any herb the animals are fond of. The first taib I 
received from my friend Hussein was for feeding a 
camel tied behind mine, which had not time to crop for 
itself. 

We generally halted about sunset, on some smooth 
spot under the rocks or hills, made our camels kneel 
down, unloaded, and then let them go free to browse a 
discretion ; in half an hour more the tents were pitched, 
fires blazing around, and the stars above us, for in these 
countries there is little or no twilight. The camels 
were then tethered down, and the Bedouins, their frugal 
meal and merry chat over, wrapped themselves up in 
their abbas, and went to sleep. We also dozed from 
dinner till tea-time, and then, after a cheerful cup or 
two, followed their example. Evenings as peaceful, 
and cups as cheering as those immortalized by Cowper, 
yet how different in their accessaries ! — no newspapers, 
no politics, no prose of the present to mar our medita- 
tions on the past. 

We all lent a hand in the tent-pitching ; this Bedouin 
life is quite to my taste, — 'tis the realization of one of my 
childish day-dreams, when I used to pitch a tent on the 
nursery floor at Muncaster, and call it my home. And 
yet I have alingering touch of European prejudice; 
there is something very melancholy in our morning 
flittings ; the tent-pins are plucked up, and, in a few 
minutes, a dozen holes, a heap or two of ashes, and the 



166 



RAS MOUSA. 



marks of the camels' knees in the sand, soon to be 
obliterated, are the only traces left of what has been 
for a while home. There are a thousand allusions to 
this primitive mansion in Scripture, almost unintelligible, 
till familiarity with the tent, the camel, and the desert, 
explains them. I never drive in a tent-pin without 
thinking of Jael and Sisera. 

Now for our journey. M. Manuely accompanied us 
to the shore of the Red Sea, and saw us embark for 
Asia. We crossed in about half an hour. I read the 
sublime description of the Passage of the Israelites, the 
song of Moses, and the seventy-seventh Psalm, with 
the scene before my eyes; for it was a little to the south 
of Suez that they crossed the gulf. It was a strange 
and thrilling pleasure to look down on those waters, 
now so placid, and remember their division — to look 
up at that azure and spotless sky, and figure to one- 
self the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night 
that guided the chosen race to the Land of Promise. ( 3 ) 

The view from the shore of Asia is very beautiful ; 
Gebel Ataka, and Gebel Deradje, each running into a 
long promontory, stretch along the shore of Africa, and 
nearly opposite the " mouth of the ridge " is Ras 
Mousa, the promontory of Moses ; ras and ros mean 
the same in Arabic and Gaelic. We did not mount 
till near four, two of the camels not having arrived. 
The sun set superbly behind Ataka, and the crescent 
moon was shining brilliantly when we encamped at 
Ain Mousa, the Fountains of Moses. There are many 
palm-trees scattered around them, neglected, and grown 
thick and bushy from want of pruning. Frogs, shrill 
and musical as the rings in Lady Minnatrost's Castle, 
serenaded us all night. 

Next morning we proceeded for three hours over the 
desert, sandy and stony alternately, the Red Sea, of 



WADY SEDER. 



167 



the deepest blue, on the right, and the chain of the 
Gebel Tih, on the left ; the country beyond it is called 
El Tih, 6 the desert of the wandering ' — Israelites. ( 4 ) 
Between the third and fourth hour, we entered on a 
boundless plain of desert, called El Ata, white and 
painfully glaring to the eye; the wind, too, began to 
blow from the south, and rendered the heat very 
oppressive. El Ata is probably the Ethamof Scripture, 
though the desert so called extended, as we may gather 
from the Mosaic account, round the head, and perhaps 
for some distance along both sides, of the gulf. 

After seven hours' ride and a half — a short day's 
journey, we encamped for the night in Wady Seder, on 
a bed of sand almost as smooth as a ball-room. — 
Wady, you must remember, means a valley, and is 
applied indifferently to a craggy mountain glen, and a 
mere depression in the flat expanse of the desert, as in 
this instance. The Spanish Guadi is the same word. 
— Seder is supposed to be a corruption of Shur or 
Sdur, the ancient name of the desert that separates 
Egypt from Palestine; it was to this desert, you will 
recollect, but to a more northerly district of it, that 
Hagar fled with the ancestor of the Northern Arabs ; 
the shrub under which she cast him — the leathern 
bottle (or zumzummia^ as it would now be called) empty 
— the spring, which in these wilds lies often deep in the 
ground unseen, till you are close upon it — (unless we 
are to believe that Hagar's fountain was produced 
miraculously) — I cannot express to you how vividly 
that most beautiful scene paints itself to me now. The 
ground hereabouts is covered with beds of the finest 
chalk, caked by the sun into large flakes of pure white; 
the whole of this low country is under water during the 
rainy season. 

Next day, starting at a quarter past seven, we reached 



168 



BEER HOWABA. 



the bitter well of Howara at half-past two, and watered 
the camels there. The Arabs never drink of it them- 
selves; I tasted, and at first thought the water in- 
sipid rather than bitter, but, held in the mouth a few 
seconds, it becomes excessively nauseous. It rises 
within an elevated mound, surrounded by sand-hills, 
and two small date trees grow near it. The sky was 
glowing with great heat as we approached, and a pale 
hue diffused itself over the landscape, like the eclipse 
one might fancy overshadowed it when the Israelites 
murmured against the Almighty, — for there can be no 
doubt, I think, of this well being the Mara of Scripture, 
sweetened by Moses. The name Mara, implying 
" bitter," seems to be preserved in that of the Wady 
Amara, which we crossed shortly before reaching it. 
There is no other well, Hussein tells me, on the whole 
coast, absolutely undrinkable. 

I asked whether they had any means of sweetening 
bad water, and he mentioned the munn^ a gum that ex- 
udes from the tamarisk tree, and the juice of the homr- 
berry ; to this latter inquiry I was guided by Burck- 
hardfs expression of regret that he had not made it ; 
he, too, was informed that no other well, bitter enough 
to be identifiable with that of Mara, exists, as far as 
Has Mohammed. 

The /i<9?nr-plant and tarfa^ or tamarisk tree, grow in 
great abundance in Wady Gharandel, two hours beyond 
Beer Howara, where we halted for the night; the former 
bears small, red, juicy berries, which they squeeze into 
water; the munn has a strong aromatic taste like tur- 
pentine, — one of our guides had a piece of it, which I 
tasted; they keep it in casks, melt it when required, and 
spread it on their bread like honey. Some have taken 
it for the miraculous manna — but it does not fulfil the 



WADY GHARANDEL. 



169 



necessary conditions.* — Are we to understand that the 
effect produced on the bitter waters of Mara by casting 
in the tree shown to Moses by the Almighty, (or " some- 
thing of a tree," as the Arabic translation runs,) was 
also miraculous? ( 5 ) If not, it has been suggested that 
the munn or the homr-juice may have been the specific 
employed, — the homr is, however, a mere shrub, and 
had the whole valleys for miles round been full of tarfa 
trees or homr-bushes, there would scarcely have been 
enough to sweeten water sufficient for such a host as 
that of Israel. Moreover, the Israelites were here 
within a month after the institution of the Passover at 
the vernal equinox, whereas the munn -harvest does not 
take place tiH June; this alone, I think, must decide 
the question in favour of the miracle. 

Between Beer Howara and Wady Gharandel the 
country becomes more mountainous, and assumes a 
more picturesque character. Two divisions of the Waled 
Said were encamped near the Wady ; one of the 
Bedouins quitted us, and disappeared, diving down a 
small ravine that seemed to end in nothing. One could 
scarcely fancy human inhabitants of such wilds. We 
halted among the tarfa bushes under one of the hills of 
Wady Gharandel, but at too great a distance from the 
wells to admit of our visiting them. This, probably, 
is the Elim of Scripture. f ( 6 ) 

* See Mr. Conder's observations in his volume on Arabia in that 
most valuable, judicious, and — considered as the work of one man — 
astonishing compilation, the Modern Traveller. 

f Dr. Robinson agrees with Burckhardt in considering Beer 
Howara as Marah, and the springs of Wady Gharandel as Elim. 
B. Researches, vol. i, pp. 97, sqq. — Professor Lepsius,on the contrary, 
fixes the first encampment of the Israelites at Wady el Ahta, a jour- 
ney of about fifteen miles, their second at Wady Wardan, sixteen 
miles further on, their third at the springs of Wady Gharandel, 



170 



WADY SAL. 



Soon after starting next morning, (at half-past seven,) 
we met a man driving a flock of goats, the first human 
being we had encountered since leaving Suez. Our 
road lay through Wady Ussait, west of which, Hussein 
told me, Mousa and the Beni Israel crossed, and Fara- 
oun was drowned in the Bahr Souf, or Weedy Sea— 
the name has little changed from the Yam Souf of 
Moses ! We came in sight of Gebel Serbal that morn- 
ing, a magnificent mountain of granite, N.W. of Mount 
Sinai. 

At a quarter past one, half an hour after watering 
our camels at the wells of Wady Sal,* we reached the 
spot where the roads to Mount Sinai, by Wady Mokat- 
teb, and Sarbout el Kadem, diverge ; we took the former, 
by far the most interesting as the route of the Israelites. 
Turning westwards therefore, at this point, we entered 
Wady Taibi, the sea-breeze warning us of our direct 
descent to the sea-shore. The scenery of this valley is 
very striking. During the rainy season a torrent flows 
down it, of the height of two men, i. e. ten or eleven 
feet deep ; the bottom, as in most of these valleys, is 
sheeted over with white mud, caked so hard as to re- 
ceive no impression from the camels' feet, — in fact, in 
progress to stone. Rock-salt, of the purest white, and 
perfectly clean, is dug up plentifully hereabouts ; they 
showed us some, fit for an emperor's table. 

After passing a little forest of tarfa and wild date 

seventeen miles, — identifying these springs with Marah, and their 
fourth at the wells of Wady Shebekah, on the coast, apparently the 
valley named by me and others Wady Taibi, about sixteen miles 
more. This latter spot the Professor identifies with Elim, and sug- 
gests that the existing name of the harbour, Abu Zelime, may be a 
corruption of Elim. See his c Tour from Thebes to the Peninsula 
of Sinai,' translated by C. H. Cottrell, Esq., London, (J. Petheram.) 
1846. [1847.] 

* Wady Thai. — Robinson and Lepsius. [1847.] 



SEA-SHORE. 



171 



tress — winding round a black volcanic-looking mountain 
— defiling through a narrow ravine, where we heard a 
blackbird cheerily singing amidst the solitude, and 
leaving another black mountain to the left, we turned 
the angle formed by it with the valley, and the bright 
sea suddenly burst on us, a sail in the distance, and the 
blue mountains of Africa beyond it, a lovely vista, — but 
when we had fairly issued into the plain on the sea- 
shore, beautiful, indeed, most beautiful was the view — 
the whole African coast, from Gebel Ataka to Gebel 
Gharib, lay before us, washed by the Red Sea, a vast 
amphitheatre of mountains, except the space where the 
waters were lost in distance between the xlsiatic and 
Libyan promontories. It was the stillest hour of day ; 
the sun shone brightly, descending to "his palace in the 
Occident," — the tide was coming in with its peaceful 
pensive murmur, wave after wave ; — it was in this plain, 
broad and perfectly smooth from the mountains to the 
sea, that the children of Israel encamped after leaving 
Elim; what a glorious scene it must then have pre- 
sented, and how nobly those rocks, now so silent, must 
have re-echoed the song of Moses and its ever-returning 
. chorus, " Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed 
gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into 
the sea!" 

The plain narrows into nothing at the southern extre- 
mity, where the hills end in a detached headland, 
jutting into the sea, and concealing a deep bay. I ex- 
pected something beautiful, but the reality far surpassed 
my anticipations; we stopped half way through the 
gap, — a large lake, so it seemed, of the deepest blue, 
lay slumbering before us, hemmed in by mountains, 
variously tinted by the evening sun, and of the most 
singular appearance, worn away and crumbling, as if of 
very old age — with the blue heights of Gebal Serbal 



172 



SHORE OF THE RED SEA. 



towering in the distance, — a scene and hour never to 
forget; the warm tears rushed to my eyes as I gazed 
there ; not a sound broke the silence, — the caravan was 
far before us, — the waters lay all unruffled, scarce rippled 
by the evening breeze. 

Twenty steps more — and, the headland disappearing 
behind us, the lake vanished, and the bay opened in full 
beauty. The rocks, as we advanced, descended into 
the sea so abruptly as to cut the path quite off; we 
waded round them on our dromedaries, — at high tide 
the passage would scarcely be practicable. As soon as 
we reached the little plain beyond them, the sun set be- 
hind the mountains of Africa, and night came on in her 
calm loveliness ; the " sea of Edom" retained for a while 
the roseate hue that it can only boast of at such an 
hour, ( 7 ) but all ere long was gray, and by the time we 
had pitched our tents, the moon and stars were brightly 
gleaming over us. We rode ten hours and a half this day. 

Starting at 10 m. p. 7, next morning, we continued 
our route along the narrow track under the rocks, broad 
enough only for one camel at a time. Winding round 
another headland, we entered El Murgha, a large tri- 
angular plain covered with shrubs, and affording a well 
of very bad water ; it is formed by the intersection of 
two ranges of mountains, of which the most southerly, 
black as if it had been only quenched yesterday, ends 
in Gebel Zizezzat, the same promontory as that marked 
Has Jehan in Laborde's map, nearly opposite to Gebel 
Zeait in Africa. A low range of limestone hills, crumb- 
ling away with age, runs parallel with them ; we pierced 
it through a ravine called WadyLuggum, and then, turn- 
ing to the right, ascended the valley formed by the two 
ranges. 

The lussof grows here abundantly — a beautiful green 
plant, with large juicy pods; at the proper season it 



PLANTS OF THE DESERT. 



173 



produces a fruit as large as one's finger, and good to 
eat. We observed another fruit, of a very different 
character, but equally useful, medicinally, the colocinth, 
or, as the Arabs call it, humvul ; might not this fruit, 
golden as an orange externally, but bitterness itself 
within, and retaining its fair exterior long after the in- 
side has all dried up, have given rise to the story of 
the apples of Sodom? It grows, they say, as large as 
a small melon, and they use the rind, dried, for holding 
water, butter, &c. Ostrich eggs are used for the same 
purpose in Egypt. — Two other shrubs I will mention 
here, though we chiefly noticed them more to the 
south, — the one edible, the hemmar, a bunchy plant, the 
leaf juicy, and bitter when chewed — William thought it 
tasted like sorre], — the other ornamental, the sekarran, 
bearing a very pretty flower of blended purple and 
white, on a thick leafy stem ; its general appearance 
reminded me of the lotus in Egyptian paintings.* — I 
need not apologize to my dear Anne for this little floral 
episode. 

In this black chain of mountains is an extraordinary 
ravine, called Wady Shellal, or the Valley of the Cata- 
ract. Hussein took us through it, while the caravan 
went on by the usual route ; the valley is not a stone's 
jerk wide, but the scenery is awfully grand ; not a sound 
was heard except the sugh of the wind among the rocks, 
and the solitary chirp of a bird. Hussein and I walked 
on quicker than William, who was looking out for 
partridges and quails ; as we ascended the Wady, 
enormous rocks, fallen from the heights, of eveiy shape, 
and in several instances inscribed with the same un- 
known characters that I shall have to mention presently, 
lay on either side of the way, becoming gradually more 

* I may also mention the urriuih, a sort of broom, which the 
camels eat greedily. [1847.] 



174 



WADY BOODRA. 



numerous, till, at last, they formed a little valley of 
themselves within the large one, which, gradually dimi- 
nishing into a narrow winding passage, brought us to a 
perpendicular rock, beyond which there seemed to be 
no passage. It is impossible to describe the extra- 
ordinary appearance of this cul-de-sac. 

Hussein and I sat down in the shadow, and talked 
after our fashion, till William and his attendant Arab 
overtook us ; Hussein then started up, and, climbing 
up the rocks, led the way to an upper valley, of which 
I had not suspected the existence, broader than the 
lower, but quite as extraordinary ; the ground in some 
places was as smooth as a gravel walk. In the rainy 
season the torrents pouring down it, and over the rocks 
into the lower valley, form the magnificent cascade 
from which the Wady takes its name. We walked on 
some distance to a well, which we found fall of sand ; 
Hussein scooped it out with his hands, and the water 
rose ; all of us drank — I never tasted anything so 
delicious, always excepted the water of the Nile, to 
which no other beverage is comparable ; but then I was 
very thirsty, for the day was by far the hottest we had 
yet travelled on. Returning a few steps, we climbed 
over the hills, and across two or three small ravines, till 
we reached Wady Boodra, where we saw tracks of the 
camels. It was well we had drunk at the spring, for 
the ascent and descent of the hills was dreadfully hot 
work; my tongue felt in my mouth like a parrot's, the 
sides of my throat clove together, and I could scarcely 
articulate when we overtook the caravan. One of the 
most delightful walks, however, I ever took I What a 
blessing water is ! None can appreciate it, who has 
not thirsted in the desert. It is bad policy to drink 
during the march, if one can possibly avoid it. ( 8 ) 

All the mountains of Wady Boodra are more or less 



WADY MOKATTEB. 



175 



volcanic-looking ; some of them resemble the heaps of 
cinders thrown out from an iron foundry — utter silence 
and lifelessness. At half-past two, we passed, on the 
left, the entrance of Wady Magara, one of the mining- 
stations of the Pharaohs, whose hieroglyphics are to be 
seen sculptured on the rocks, — and, nearly opposite, 
on the right, a Bedouin burial-ground ; soon afterwards, 
the valley opening, we had a beautiful view of the 
distant Gebel Serbal, standing nobly alone, a King 
among the hills. 

We now entered Wady Mokatteb, a spacious valley, 
bounded on the east by a most picturesque range of 
black mountains, but chiefly famous for the inscriptions 
on the rocks that line it, and from which it derives its 
name ; there are thousands of them, — inscriptions too 
— and here is the mystery — in a character which no 
one has yet deciphered.* William copied a few, and 

* " The Sinaite inscriptions . . . are found on all the routes which 
lead from the West towards Sinai, as far South as Tur. They 
extend to the very base of Sinai, above the convent el-Arba'in ; but 
are found neither on Gebel Musa, nor on the present Horeb, nor on 
St. Catherine, nor in the valley of the convent ; while on Serbal they 
are seen on its very summit. Not one has yet been found to the 
Eastward of Sinai." Dr. Robinson, Bibl. Researches, vol. i, p. 188. 
— The last assertion (printed here in Italics) is repeated thrice, and 
with emphasis, in the note on the Sinaitic inscriptions, pp. 554-5. 
It may be worth while anticipating my remark, infra, that I 
observed a few in Wady Resale, between the district of Huddra 
(Dr. Robinson's eL-Hndhera) and Wady Ruhabiyeh ( Wady er- 
KuweihibiyeK), in both instances East of Sinai, on the road to 
Akaba.— The exception possibly may prove the rule. — A similar 
inscription was found by Mr. Bankes at Wady Mousa, but has not 
been published, and Dr. Robinson was informed that " similar 
inscriptions exist in the immense ancient quarries back of Tura, just 
above Cairo; and also in the granite quarries of Aswan." Ibid. 
p. 556. 

These inscriptions are first mentioned, in the sixth century, by 
Cosmas Indicopleustes, in whose time the knowledge of the alphabet 



176 



WADY FEIRAN. 



afterwards sketched the valley, with our tents, camels, 
&c., for we encamped here for the night after a nine 
hours' ride. 

Our next day's journey (starting at half-past six, 
and quitting Wady Mokatteb at half-past eight) was 
through the noble Wady Feiran: P and F being 
cognate letters, always interchangeable, there can be 
no doubt, I think, that Feiran is the ancient Paran ; 
the wilderness, however, so called, like those of Shur 
and Etham, extended far and wide beyond the spot to 
which the ancient name has since been limited. 

It was noon — past. For some hours we had been 
anxiously looking out for the palm trees and gardens 
which were said to render Wady Feiran the prettiest 
spot in the peninsula, but nothing had hitherto ap- 
peared, except the usual shrubs and plants of the 
Arabian desert, and an occasional elluf tree. Not- 
withstanding our guides' repeated promises of nachel, 

in which they are written was lost ; he attributes them to the ancient 
Hebrews. For an account of the labours of Professor Beer, of 
Leipzig, who is said to have deciphered, and attributes them to the 
ancient Xabatheans, subsequently to their conversion to Christianity, 
but anterior to their adoption of the Arabic language, see Dr. 
Robinson, loco citato. Professor Beer considers them the work of 
pilgrims, and Dr. Robinson observes that u there is no historical 
evidence that any native Christian population existed in or around 
the peninsula in the early centuries, but rather the contrary," refer- 
ring to the text, p. 180 of the volume.- — Professor Lepsius, on the 
other hand, expresses his conviction, " that they are the work of a 
Christian Pastoral People, who had independent possession of the 
peninsula, and knew how to write — not of pilgrims, nor in reference 
to any particular place," — a people whose " principal city was the 
early Christian Faran, at the foot of the Serbal, in the valley of the 
same name." Tour, &c, p. 90. — The Rev. Charles Forster, author 
of " Mabometanism Unveiled," and of the 44 Sacred Geography of 
Arabia," is understood to be occupied on a work on the subject of 
these inscriptions, which will probably excite great interest in the 
theological, antiquarian, and literary world. [1847.] 



WADY FEIRAN. 



177 



(date trees,) I began to doubt whether we should ever 
come to them, when suddenly, at half-past one, turning 
an angle of the valley, we found ourselves in a para- 
dise, — date trees (like the fair ones they always remind 
one of, so much more graceful by cultivation) rustling 
in the breeze, sidr* and tarfa trees, gardeners' huts and 
dogs barking; I could not have conceived such a 
transition. We dismounted, climbed over a garden 
wall, let down our zumzummia into a well under a 
palm tree, and drank copiously of the delicious water, 
re-mounted, and in ten minutes, turning another angle 
of the valley, were in the desert as before, with the 
torrent-ploughed peaks of Gebel Serbal directly in 
front of us. The change suggested a thousand com- 
parisons ; it seemed as if we had been dreaming. 

We now came to the ruins — overgrown with tarfa 
trees, and crowning a lofty rock in the middle of the 
vallev — of the ancient town of Feiran, the seat of a 
bishopric in the early days of Christianity — the Phara 
of Ptolomy the geographer, in whose time it gave its 
name to the Sinaite promontory, and to its inhabitants 
the Pharanitae — and, as one learned traveller has 
remarked, not improbably the El Paran in the wil- 
derness, to which Chedarlaomer and his associate 
kings chased the Horites of Mount Seir. — It has 
now nothing of magnificence to boast of. On both 
sides of the vale beyond it are seen deserted houses, 
some perched at a great height, — and ancient tombs 
cut in the rocks. 

The gardens of Wady Feiran I fancied were past, 
but the sight of a few date trees, and a stream of water 
crossing the road, as we wound round the ruin-crowned 
rock, showed I was mistaken ; indeed, it was now only 

* Or nebbek, the Rhamnus Nabeca of Forskal. Dr. Robinson. — 
The sidr is the tree, the nebbek the fruit, correctly speaking. [1847.] 

K 



178 WADY FEIRAN. 

we had fairly come to them. The large river, that 
once flowed through the valley, indignantly sank into 
the ground and disappeared, when a Frank presumed 
to write a description of it ; but one of the loveliest 
little brooks I ever saw supplies its place, overrunning 
the rocky path, the bed of the summer torrents, in tiny 
crystal rivulets. I drank repeatedly as I walked along, 
wherever the pebbles at the bottom gleamed clearest- 
just deep enough to use one's hand as a cup ; the 
camels were constantly stopping to drink, and browse 
on the tarfa trees. The stream became at last so 
copious that I was obliged to mount my dromedary, to 
avoid being wetfooted. 

For two hours and a half, every winding of the valley 
revealed new loveliness ; it would be beautiful even 
without a single tree. At the first turning, after passing 
the ruined town, a most superb view of Gebel Serbal 
opened on us, — every crag and pinnacle of his five 
peaks relieved clearly against a sky of the most de- 
licious blue, and perfectly cloudless, — the pale moon 
about half full, sailing in the pure ether above us — the 
eye could pierce far beyond her. Gebel Serbal was of 
a bluish gray, but the jagged rocks of the valley, form- 
ing the foreground of the picture, were black, the 
bright lights and deep broad shadows rendering them 
perfectly beautiful.— I sat on my dromedary under a 
tarfa tree, enjoying the shade and a delightful breeze, 
and talking with the Bedouins, while William sketched 
this lovely scene. 

And was not that Mount Paran ! 

"God came from Teman, 
And the Holy One from Mount Paran. 
His glory covered the heavens, 
And the earth was full of his praise. 



MOUNT PARAN. 



179 



His brightness was as the light, 
Rays streamed from his hand, 
And there was the hiding-place of his power. 
Before him went the pestilence, 
And flashes of fire went forth after him. 
He stood — and measured the earth, 
He beheld — and drave asunder the nations, 
And the everlasting mountains were scattered, 
The perpetual hills did bow,— 
The eternal paths were trodden by him. 
Thou sawest the tents of Cushan in affliction, 
The curtains of the land of Midian trembled ! 

Was the Lord displeased against the floods ? 
Was thine anger against the rivers ? 
Was thy wrath against the sea, 
That thou didst ride upon thine horses, 
And thy chariots of salvation ? 
Thy bow was made bare, 
According to the oath unto the tribes, even the promise. 

Thou didst cleave the streams of the land, 

The mountains saw thee and trembled, 

The overflowing of waters passed away ; 

The deep uttered his voice, 

And lifted up his hands on high. 

—The sun and moon stood still in their habitation ; 

In their light thine arrows went abroad— 

In their brightness the lightning of thy spear ! 

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, 
Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger ; 
Thou wen test forth for the deliverance of thy people, 
Even for the deliverance of thine anointed ones."* 



* " The Serbal," says Professor Lepsius, " here rises at once 
majestically several thousand feet. Its splendid peaks towered up to 
heaven like flames of fire in the setting sun, and made upon me an 
almost overpowering impression. It is impossible to describe the 
sublimity and majesty of these black mountain masses — rising, as 
they do, not in a wild and irregular form, but on a grand and im- 

N 2 



180 



MOUNT PARAN. 



Following the windings of the valley, alternately 
through sun and shade, under lofty rocks and um- 
brageous date trees, whispering in the breeze, and 
shedding the most delicious coolness, we heard from 
time to time the chirping of birds, the barking of dogs, 
and the merry voices of children — generally unseen, 
though occasionally we caught a passing glimpse of 
them, and of their dusky mothers and sisters, under 
the thick foliage embowering their huts and tents. We 
exchanged cordial salamats and bissalams with some of 
the natives that we met on the road, particularly with 
one aged white-bearded patriarch. Our guides, too, 
were constantly meeting their acquaintance, receiving 
their welcome, and striking wrists with them; their 

posing scale—at the foot of which I was standing, not separated 
from it by any projecting promontory or ledge, so abruptly does the 
whole body of the mountain start up from this point." — Tour, &c. r 
p. 33. 

I have in a previous note {supra, p. 1 69) enumerated the stations 
of the Israelites as far as Elim (Wady Shebekah), according to Pro- 
fessor Lepsius. He considers them to have proceeded from Wady 
Shebekah by Wady Shellal to the outlet of Wady Sittere — which 
he identifies with Daphka — a distance of about six hours ; and from 
thence to the Sikke Tekruri at the entrance of Wady Feiran, pro- 
bably the Alus of Deuteronomy, and nearly the same distance,™ 
and thereafter, to El Hessue, fourteen miles further, and only a mile 
from the convent mountain of Feiran — identifying El Hessue with 
Rephidim,* — they proceeded thence (he thinks) to the convent 
mountain of Hererat, and established themselves in Wady Alegat, 
" at the iron gate of the garden of Wadi Firan," which he conceives 
to have belonged to the Amalekites, whom they fought with and 
dispossessed in the memorable battle, Exod. xvii, 8, when Moses, 
Aaron, and Hur stood on the top of the hill and prayed for victory — 



* Comas Indicopleustes, in the sixth century, identifies Pharan with Rephi- 
dim. — Robinson, B. Researches, vol. i, p. 186. [1847.] 



WADY FEIRAN". 



181 



greetings struck me as remarkably low-voiced, though 
cordial as between brothers. ( 9 ) 

The blending of greens in these gardens is exqui- 
sitely beautiful, — a regular gradation from the pale 
transparent foliage of the tarfa to the darker hue of the 
date towering over it, and the still deeper green of the 
sidr or nebbek, as dark as that of the orange and citron. 
Our Bedouins brought down the fruit with stones, and 
gave them to us as we rode along ; it was delicious. In 
twenty days the nebbek harvest will be quite ready ; 
they sell the greater part of it at Suez, — part they keep 
and dry in the sun, press and reduce it to flour, which, 
with water or milk, they make into small cakes. 

that hill being " the convent mountain, from whence the Israelites 
rushed down into the valley of the Amalekites :" — while, if these 
stations be correct, and Raphidim be the garden of Wady Feiran, 
it follows, according to Professor Lepsius, from chapters 18th and 
19th of Exodus, where the Mount of God and Rephidim are described 
as in close contiguity, that Gebel Serbal is the Mount of God, the 
true Sinai. For the Professor's further able reasoning on this in- 
teresting subject, both in favour of the claims of Gebel Serbal and 
against those of Gebel Mousa and Gebel Katerin, see his " Tour," 
&c, pp. 34, 35, 59, sqq.* There remains, however, one objection to 
this conclusion — granting, for argument's sake, the preceding cal- 
culations — to wit, the name Feiran, apparently so identical with 
Paran ; this would make Mount Paran and Mount Sinai identical. 
[1847.] 



* Mr. Conder, however, has anticipated Professor Lepsius in his doubts (at 
least) relative to Gebel Mousa and Gebel Katerin, and he distinctly points out 
Gebel Serbal as possessing at least equal pretensions. See the Modern Traveller, 
vol. iv, pp. 178 sqq. — Let me add, that I am not sure that Professor Lepsius 
sufficiently recognises the immediate miraculous evocation (as it were) of the 
spring that gushed from the rock at the stroke of Moses — any more than the 
similarly miraculous gift of the manna, which, we are expressly told, putrified 
and bred worms if it was kept beyond the prescribed time, but remained sweet 
over the Sabbath, a fact {inter alia) irreconcilable with the theory that it was 
the gum which exudes from the tarfa or tamarisk tree. [1847.] 



182 



ASCENT TOWARDS SI>a1. 



At the proper season, the Zoalia Arabs, the owners 
of these gardens, who entrust the cultivation to the 
Tebenna, a branch of the Gebali tribe, (who receive 
three out of every ten dates for their trouble,) hold a 
sort of harvest-home in the valley, — and a merry scene 
it is then, by all accounts. These Gebali are the de- 
scendants of a Christian colony, transported by Jus- 
tinian from the shores of the Black Sea, to act as 
servants to his monastic establishment at Mount Sinai. 
They have long since become Moslems and Bedouins, 
though the pure tribes never intermarry with them, 
and, as their daughters are the prettiest girls in the 
peninsula, many a sad tale of the course of true love 
thwarted is current in the glens. 

About four o'clock we lost sight of the last palm, 
and, after riding awhile through a wood of tarfa trees, 
they too ceased — adieu for ever to the gardens of Wady 
Feiran ! I shall never probably see them again, but 
often, often will they gleam in loveliness on my waking 
and sleeping visions. We encamped at a quarter to 
five, about ten minutes beyond El Boueb, " the Mouth." 
a remarkable defile in the valley, not more than eight- 
paces broad in the narrowest part, and beyond which 
the valley takes the name of Wady Sheikh. 

The Waled Said encamp for the present about half 
way between this spot and Mount Sinai. Notwith- 
standing that the day after the morrow was the second 
Bairam, a great feast among the Mahometans, Hussein 
most hospitably invited us to visit his tribe in the hills 
and share his tent the following evening, and proceed 
the third day to the convent. We were anxious to 
press on, and therefore declined his invitation; but, on 
reflecting that our visit, so kindly urged, would have 
excluded him, and all our other Bedouins, from par- 
ticipating in the festivity of their tribe, we could not 



ASCENT TOWARDS SINAI. 



183 



but feel equally delighted at having received such an 
invitation, and at having declined it. 

Thursday morning, the 16th of March, we started at 
half-past five, commencing a continual ascent towards 
the elevated district of Sinai; the rising sun was just 
lighting up the peaks of the mountains — it was very 
cold at first till he had fairly risen — the birds were 
singing their matins merrily; again and again did I 
look back on the valley, closed directly behind us by 
the noble peaks of Gebel Serbal, at this early hour of 
a reddish brown, with deep blue shadows ; there are 
five peaks, or perhaps six ; at least from this point 
there appeared to be so many — each composed of 
several pinnacles ; the mountain is prolonged west- 
wards, displaying another peak of lower elevation, but 
very beautiful. William sketched it from this point, 
the best, I think, that could be chosen — he is verily an 
admirable draughtsman. 

Soon afterwards, leaving to the left the usual circuitous 
route to Mount Sinai by Wady Sheikh, we turned 
up Wady Selaff, a long valley, broader but far less 
picturesque than Wady Feiran, yet affording rich 
pasturage for sheep and goats, which were feed- 
ing there in considerable flocks, tended by Bedouin 
shepherdesses. The rattam, a species of broom, 
bearing a white flower, delicately streaked with purple, 
afforded me frequent shelter from the sun, as I walked 
on in advance of the caravan ;* and two other shrubs, 
the selleh f — thorny, with leaves of the lightest tint of 

* The rattam is the 4 genista raetam' of Forskal. Robinson, B. Re- 
searches, vol. i, p. 124. — This is the Hebrew rothem, the plant under 
which Elijah rested in the wilderness of Horeb, wrongly translated 
4 juniper' in our version. Ibid. p. 299. [1847.] 

f " Apparently the Zilla myagrioides of Forskal." Robinson. 
[1847.] 



184 GEBEL HOW. 

green, bearing a very pretty flower of a light pink colour, 
beautifully streaked inside — and the ooraga, deep green, 
with hairy pods, ending each in a thorn, instead of 
leaves, and bearing a small pink flower, five petals with 
yellow stamina — delighted me with their simple beauty. 
Hundreds of little lizards — the colour of the sand, and 
called by the Bedouins serabani, were darting about, 
and altogether I hardly felt myself in the desert. 

We reached the foot of Gebel How about half-past 
eleven. I mounted my dromedary there, having walked 
ever since starting, but soon got down again, for it was 
as much, we found, as the animals could do, to cross 
the mountain. Two of them, indeed, knocked up, and 
were left behind ; the Arabs took them back that even- 
ing, returning to the camp of their tribe. This route 
through the Wady How — one of the wildest and most ex- 
traordinary defiles I ever saw, leads in a direct line to 
Mount Sinai. The path, rudely paved in the steepest 
part, winds amongst fallen rocks, many of them of enor- 
mous size, and some bearing inscriptions in the same 
unknown character as those in the Wady Mokatteb. 
One rock, worn deep by the torrents of ages before it 
thundered down from the heights, singularly resembled 
a human skull. All the fallen rocks in these valleys — 
eaten into by the winds and torrents, have a ghastly 
look. A few shrubby date trees and occasional patches 
of coarse grass refreshed the eye from time to time, and 
two or three sparkling mountain streams the parched 
throat — one of them I discovered myself. The groups 
of camels slowly defiling along, at different heights of 
the ravine, and sometimes in different directions, were 
highly picturesque. # 

* Dr. Robinson describes this defile, which he names 1 Xukb 
Hawy,' 4 Windy Pass,' as " between blackened cliffs of granite some 
eight hundred feet high, and not more than two hundred and fifty 
yards apart. . . Although I had crossed the most rugged passes of 



CONVENT OF ST. CATHERINE. 



185 



We reached the summit about two ;* the Mountain 
of Sinai, or rather its northern prolongation, called 
Gebel Shereyk,f stood nobly out, as we descended the 
broad plain El Raha, that slopes to its foot, the scene 
of the encampment of the Israelites. On the left, after 
about an hour and a half's gradual descent, we passed 
the opening of Wady Sheikh, (which, had we not crossed 
Gebel How, we should have had to go round by, and to 
retrace going to Akaba,) — and soon afterwards, on the 
right, a stone on which, according to the monks, Moses 
broke the tables of the Law, on coming down from the 
Mount and seeing the calf-worship. Hussein called it 
Hadj Mousa, " the stone of Moses." Hassan, another 
of our Bedouins, who had been praying as he walked, 
saluted it with his hands. 

In a few minutes more, advancing up a narrow ravine 
at the extremity of the plain, and passing the garden 
with its lofty cypresses, we arrived under the walls of 
the Convent of St. Catherine, a regular monastic fortress 
— it has exactly the appearance of one, and is indeed, 
defended by guns against the Arabs. A window, under 

. the Alps," he adds, " and made from Chamouny the whole circuit of 
Mont Blanc, I had never found a path so rude and difficult as that 
we were now ascending." B. Researches, vol. i, p. 129. [1847.] 

* " We were shown a remarkable isolated rock standing in the 
valley south of Gebel How, and called by the Arabs the rock struck 
by Moses — different therefore from the one pointed out as such by 
the monks. It has been worn by torrents, and there is a deep cavity 
on one side near the ground." Orig. Journal. [1847.] 

f The 4 Mount Serich' of Pococke. Dr. Robinson, who does not 
give this name, thinks that the peak of es-Sussafeh, rather behind 
the projection named Gebel Shereyk, is the true Sinai. See the B. 
Researches, vol. i, p. 157. — 44 The name," says Lepsius, 44 of another 
portion of the same ridge of mountains, called Gebel Charuf, 4 the 
sheep mountains,' seems to be a corruption of Horeb, or more pro- 
perly Choreb." Tour, &c, p. 64. — I did not hear of Gebel 
Charuf, and can hardly suppose the name I have written Shereyk 
to be it. El 847.1 



186 



CONVENT OF ST. CATHERINE. 



a projecting shed, was presently opened, and a rope 
(Sir Frederick Henniker calls it a halter) dropped, by 
which first our luggage and letter of introduction from 
the Greek Convent at Cairo, and then ourselves, were 
hoisted up by a windlass ; there once was a door, but 
it has been walled up, for, whenever it was opened, 
which only took place on the arrival of the Archbishop, 
the Bedouins had the right of entrance. For this reason 
the Archbishops always reside now at Cairo. 

The monks are obliged to supply the Bedouins with 
bread a discretion, and an ample provision in that kind 
was lowered to them after our ascent. No Arabs are 
ever allowed to enter, except the servants of the con- 
vent^ 0 ) The maxim " quis custodiat ipsos eustodes," 
is literally acted upon here ; our conference with Hus- 
sein, the Sheikh or chief protector of the convent, about 
conveyance to Akaba, was carried on through a hole in 
the wall ; we squatted on one side, and he stood at the 
other ; it was like talking through a keyhole. 

We were received by the Superior and some of the 
monks on the landing place, but could not answer their 
greeting, nor make ourselves understood, till Missirie 
came up, not one of them, apparently, speaking any 
language that we were acquainted with. Modern Greek 
and Arabic seem to be the only tongues in use here. 
The Superior, a fine old man, with a mild benevolent 
countenance, a long beard and immense mustachoes, 
(sadly in need of Princess Parizade's scissors,) showed 
us to our apartment, carpeted and divanned in the 
eastern style, and adorned by a print of the Virgin and 
Child, with a lamp burning before it ; we sat down with 
him, and he welcomed us kindly to Mount Sinai. He 
is a Greek from Candia ; I had the pleasure of inform- 
ing him a day or two afterwards, when he told me of his 
birth-place, that an ancestor of mine, Sir Alexander de 



CHURCH. 



187 



Lindesay of Glenesk, a brave and adventurous knight, 
died there on his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, in 
1382. Dried fruit and rakie, a strong brandy made 
from dates, were presented to us while dinner was in 
preparation — maigre, it being Lent. 

Father Dimitri ciceroned us over the convent two or 
three days afterwards.* It resembles a little fortified 
town, irregularly built on the steep side of the moun- 
tain, and surrounded by lofty walls ; the passages and 
courts are kept very neat and clean ; balconies with 
wooden balustrades run round each area, on which the 
doors of the several apartments open ; texts of Scrip- 
ture are inscribed on the walls in every direction — in 
inextricably contracted Greek. 

The principal church, built by the Emperor Justi- 
nian, the founder of the convent, is really beautiful ; the 
richly ornamented roof is supported by rows of granite 
pillars barbarously whitewashed; the pavement is of 
marble ; — the walls are covered with portraits of saints, 
the Virgin and Child, and scenes from the Bible, in the 
old Byzantine style of the middle ages ; most of them 
are modern, but some are very ancient and very inte- 
resting for the history of the art ; they are almost all in 
good preservation. The concha of the tribune displays 
in mosaic work, contemporary with Justinian, the 
Transfiguration of our Saviour, t The chapels are also 
full of paintings, some of them Russian, but in the same 
style, the painting of Russia being a branch of that of 
Byzantium. The nave is lighted by a superb silver 
chandelier, presented by Elizabeth of Russia, and I saw 

* Father Neophytus was Superior at the time of Dr. Robinson's 
visit, a year afterwards. He died a few months subsequently. 
[1847.] 

f The first example of the ancient traditional Byzantine composi- 
tion, perfected, a thousand years afterwards, by Raphael. [1847.] 



188 MANUSCRIPT OF THE GOSPELS, 



several candelabra of great beauty. The reading desks, 
&c, are of tortoise- shell and mother-of-pearl inlaid. 
In the choir is preserved the coffin in which Saint Cathe- 
rine's bones are said to repose, and the silver lid of a 
sarcophagus, embossed with the portrait of Anne of 
Russia, who intended being buried here. ( n ) 

We put off our shoes from off our feet before ap- 
proaching the most revered spot on Mount Sinai, or 
rather Horeb, (as they call this part of the mountain,) 
— where our Lord is said to have appeared to Moses in 
the burning bush. This little chapel is gorgeously 
ornamented ; a New Testament in modern Greek, with 
superbly embossed covers, lies on the altar, — behind it, 
they show — not exactly the burning bush, but a shrub 
which they say has flourished there ever since, its lineal 
descendant. The kind, hospitable monks are not to 
blame— they believe as the tale has been handed down 
to them ; but on what authority, we must again and 
again ask, are these spots pointed out as the scenes 
mentioned in the Bible ? 

The monks are summoned to their different services 
by striking with a mallet on a piece of wood suspended 
in one of the upper galleries. Two small bells of 
Russian manufacture, and very sweet tone, hang there 
also. 

Close to the church rises the minaret of a mosque ! 
built, for the nonce, three centuries ago, when the con- 
vent was threatened by the Paynim Soldan of Egypt; 
he spared the convent for its sake. It is plain and un- 
ornamented — the contrast of a Scotch kirk to an Italian 
cathedral — and is seldom used unless some Turkish 
pilgrim of rank visit Mount Sinai. The refectory is a 
spacious apartment, a world too wide for the shrunk 
body corporate of Saint Catherine's votaries. There 
are only twenty-two monks now. ( 12 ) One of them 



ASCENT OF GEBEL KATERIN". 



189 



reads to his companions, while they dine ; I saw a large 
folio " Synagogue," as it is called, of passages from the 
Fathers, printed at Venice, lying on the desk, and seve- 
ral other religious volumes in a small bookcase. 

In the archbishop's apartment, now used as the Trea- 
sury, we were shown a most beautiful manuscript of 
the Gospels in Greek, on vellum, in uncial, or capital, 
letters of gold ; I thought the good father would never 
have done turning over the preliminary leaves of illu- 
minations, and arranging the silk screens interposed 
between them. Would that it were in the British 
Museum ! I wonder whether it has ever been collated.* 

I was disappointed in the library of the convent, find- 
ing no very ancient Greek manuscripts, or valuable 
printed books ; a manuscript of Saint Chrysostom, in a 
great number of folio volumes, all apparently in the 
same handwriting, interested me most. There are many 
MSS. of the Scriptures in Greek, and some in Sclavonic 
of portions of the Bible, — many Arabic manuscripts 
also, all of which were examined by Burckhardt. The 
books are arranged alphabetically in large cases. 

Wednesday, March 22. 

Enough of the convent ; now for the environs. Yes- 
terday I ascended Gebel Mousa, commonly called 
Mount Sinai, and the day before, Gebel Katerin, a 
much loftier peak of the same mountain; neither of 
them agrees with the Sinai described in the Bible. 

With two exceptions, all the old travellers that I am 
acquainted with, from Frameynsperg in 1346 to Belon 
in 1548, call Gebel Mousa — Horeb, and Gebel Katerin 

* The illuminations consist of full-length figures of the Apostles, 
and are extremely well- executed, the colours as brilliant as if laid 
on yesterday. It is at least twelve hundred years old. [1847.] 



190 



CONVENT OF THE FORTY MARTYRS. 



— Sinai. Since the middle of the sixteenth century 
that hallowed name has reverted to Gebel Mousa — 
reverted, I say, because, from Justinian's time till the 
beginning of the fourteenth century, the tradition iden- 
tifying it with Sinai appears to be uninterrupted. In 
very early times, Gebel Serbal seems to have been the 
chief place of pilgrimage, under the belief of its being 
the Mount of God. Such uncertainty hath tradi- 
tion !( 13 ) 

Both days were clear and beautiful. Starting on 
Monday morning, at 20 m. to 10 — descending the valley 
of the convent northwards into the great plain El Raha, 
and then turning to the left, and winding round Gebel 
Shereyk — the prolongation of Gebel Mousa that, as I 
mentioned above, juts into it — I found myself ascend- 
ing the El Ledja, a deep ravine, running southwards, 
nearly parallel with the valley of the convent, and sepa- 
rating Gebel Mousa from Gebel Katerin; it is filled 
with fallen rocks, one of which, a large block of granite 
to the left of the path, is pointed out as the stone from 
which Moses struck water; there are above a dozen 
holes like mouths, from which the stream is said to 
have issued ; it did not appear to me that they were 
the work of art, chiselled, as some travellers have de- 
scribed them, but certainly this El Ledja, abounding, 
as it does, in springs of water, cannot be the Vale of 
Rephidim. ( 14 ) 

I reached the rock at a quarter to eleven, and, shortly 
afterwards, climbing over a low wall, entered the garden of 
the Convent El Erbayn, or of the Forty Martyrs ; I should 
have mentioned that, to the right, at the entrance of the 
El Ledja, I passed another convent and garden called 
El Bostan, and, before reaching the stone of Moses, a 
beautiful orchard, with seventeen cypresses towering, 
like obelisks, over apricot and other fruit trees in full 



GEBEL KATERIN. 



191 



blossom. Nothing can be more refreshing to the eye 
than these little paradises in the wild. 

I entered the Convent El Erbayn, — a rude building, 
quite deserted. Pilgrims, for two centuries and more, 
have scrawled their names there ; the earliest I saw 
was, if I recollect rightly, of 1598 ; the latest that of Pro- 
fessor von Schubert, a German savant, who had been 
here, with a large party, on his road to Petra, this very 
month. I looked into the church ; a picture of the 
Virgin glittered through the gloom, — I saw nothing 
else. The garden or rather orchard, attached to this 
convent, is delightful. Olives seem to thrive there ; it 
was pleasant walking under their shade, enjoying at the 
same time the full grandeur of the scenery, clearly dis- 
cernible through the transparent foliage. The pome- 
granate trees were quite bare. The white blossoms of 
the apple and damascene trees presented a lovely con- 
trast to the funeral gloom of three superb cypresses 
that stand in advance of the convent. ( 15 ) Under its 
walls grow two magnificent orange trees; would that a 
wish could transport them to your greenhouse ! 

Leaving the convent about 5 m. to 11, and turning 
westward, I began the ascent of Gebel Katerin by a 
steep ravine, between Gebel Djeraigni on the left, and 
Gebel Lehummar on the right, — for every crag of the 
mountains has its peculiar name among the Arabs. 
xAbout ten paces from the garden wall lies a large stone, 
inscribed with the same unknown characters of which 
we saw such numerous specimens in Wady Mokatteb. 
I observed others here and there as I ascended. At 
10 m. to 12, turning out of the path, and climbing over 
the rocks, I reached a platform overshadowed by Gebel 
Djeraigni, which is scooped out, as it were, above it, 
like Mac Duff's Cave at Earlsferry. At the very foot ot 
the rock rises a small spring of the coldest water, called 



192 



PEAK OF GEBEL KATERIN. 



Beer El Shonnar, " the well of the partridge;" we drank 
of it, filled our zumzummia, and then recommenced the 
ascent. 

Nothing can surpass the rude and gloomy grandeur 
of these valleys ; utter silence reigned on all sides, 
though, now and then, the report of a gun from the 
neighbourhood of Mount Sinai murmured around us 
like distant thunder. Odoriferous shrubs grow in great 
abundance among the loose stones, as high as the peak 
of St. Catherine's — which is easier to climb than to 
descend, the solid granite being split into thousands of 
diminutive pinnacles and ledges, smooth and slippery, 
and in some places so nearly perpendicular that a false 
step would be broken bones, if not worse. 

I reached the summit — stood, indeed, above it — on 
the roof of the chapel (hut, rather) built on the spot 
whither St. Catherine's remains are said to have been 
carried by angels, at 5 m. past 1, exactly two hours 
after leaving El Erbayn; and well — well was I repaid 
for my toil ! The gulfs of Suez and Akaba, with the 
mountains of Africa and Arabia Deserta bounding the 
horizon behind them — the white and double chain of 
the Rua and El Tih mountains running across the penin- 
sula, like an isthmus separating the desert beyond 
them from the sea of mountains at my feet — this is Sir 
Frederick Henniker's simile, and none could give ajuster 
idea of their extraordinary appearance ; " it seems," 
he says, " as if Arabia Petraea had once been an ocean 
of lava, and that, while its waves were running literally 
mountains high, it was commanded suddenly to stand 
still"— 

("And who commanded— and the silence came— 
Here let the billows stiffen and have rest?") 

— such are the principal features of this superb pano- 
rama ) condescending to particulars, I recognised Gebel 



ASCENT OF MOUNT SINAI. 



193 



Mousaor Sinai considerably below me, — Gebel Shomar 
to the south, higher than St. Catherine's, — to the S. W.. 
the plain of El Kaa, intervening between the Sinaite 
mountains and the low range called Gebel Hemam, 
bordering on the Red Sea — (Tor is not visible) — and 
to the N. W. Gebel Serbal, far less picturesque from 
this elevation than from the Wady Feiran. The 
direction of the principal valleys was clearly dis- 
cernible from this great height. On an immense scale, 
the view strongly reminded me of General Pfyffer's 
models of Switzerland. The Gulf of Akaba — if I am 
right in believing I saw it — was of the deepest blue ; a 
very few clouds, but high above the horizon, a bright 
sunny sky, and breezes fresh and exhilarating as 
spring, rendered this excursion one of the most delight- 
ful I ever took. 

The ascent of Mount Sinai is as fatiguing almost as 
that of St. Catherine. Starting from the convent, the 
walk commences by the ascent of what is now called 
Mount Horeb, the general name in Scripture for the 
district in which Sinai stood, but here considered as 
the breast from which the peak of Sinai rises. Rude 
steps have been made by the monks, very wearisome 
to climb; the only relief is where they have been 
broken, or where a sheet of granite occurs. Two arched 
gateways, with a steep ascent between them, lead to a 
small plain surrounded by rocks, the scene, according 
to Mahometan tradition, of Moses' interview with the 
Almighty; a noble cypress tree towers in the centre, 
with a well of excellent water at its foot. A rude build- 
ing, called the Convent of St. Elias, or Elijah, com- 
memorates his visit to Horeb. ( 16 ) From this plain 
begins the still more fatiguing ascent of Sinai. On the 
summit stand a chapel and a mosque. I climbed to 
the top of the former, the more elevated of the two, and 

o 



194 



GEBEL MINNEGTA, 



from thence enjoyed a superb prospect, similar to that 
from Mount St. Catherine, but inferior to it, the Gulf 
of Akaba, being totally concealed. ( 17 ) The echo of a 
pistol there is most extraordinary ; mountain after 
mountain takes up the tale, answering each other 
across the deep valleys. I descended the other side of 
the mountain direct to El Erbayn, by a precipitous 
ravine, nearly opposite that by which I had ascended 
Mount St. Catherine ; and, after resting in the garden, 
while my cicerone and two or three Arab hangers-on 
took some refreshment, (a delightfully fresh breeze 
driving the white blossoms before it like snow-flakes,) 
returned to the convent. The temperature of these 
valleys is most delicious. 

I have said that neither Gebel Mousa nor Gebel 
Katerin answer the scriptural description of Mount 
Sinai ; William pointed out to me a hill this morning 
—Gebel Minnegia, or Limnegia, as the Arabs called 
it — which he had a strong impression was the real 
mountain ; and, on careful examination, I think he is 
right. Your kind attention, if you please. 

There can be no doubt, I think, that the Israelites 
encamped on the plain El Raha; it is the largest, 
indeed the only large plain in all this district, — a noble 
expanse, covered with shrubs fit for pasturage, and a 
gentle slope.* 

The mountain in question rises directly in front of 
you, as you descend El Raha, closing the vista formed 

* "No traveller" says Dr. Robinson, "has described this plain, 
nor even mentioned it except in a slight and general manner," and 
he describes his feelings as " strongly affected at finding here so 
unexpectedly a spot so entirely adapted to the Scriptural account of 
the giving of the Law." The notices by Monconys in 1647, and 
by Morison, in his " Relation Historique," are, he says, " though 
exaggerated the most distinct mention of the plain that I have been 



PERHAPS MOUNT SINAI. 



195 



by the valley on the slope of which the convent of St. 
Catherine stands. 

The Israelites, encamping in El Raha, would camp 
directly in front of Gebel Minnegia, as we are told they 
did before Mount Sinai. 

There is not space enough in the narrow precipitous 
ravines from which alone the peaks of Gebel Mousa 
and St. Catherine are visible, or in any other plain or 
valley in the whole district, for the people to have 
encamped with such regularity and comfort as it is 
evident they did, (Exod. c. 32.) nor for their having 
removed and stood afar off, as they had apparently 
ample space to do, when trembling at the thunderings 
and lightnings — nor, after the golden-calf idolatry, for 
the tabernacle to have been pitched without the camp, 
afar off from the camp, — when all the people rose and 
stood, every man at his tent-door, and looked after 
Moses, till he was gone into the tabernacle. 

Moses went up to the " top of the mount" — and 
God came down upon Mount Sinai " on the top of the 
mount," and the glory of the Lord was " like devour- 
ing fire on the top of the mount," "in the eyes of the 
children of Israel," "in the sight of all the people." 
Neither Gebel Mousa nor Gebel Katerin are visible 
from the plain, but the Israelites could have seen the 
top of the mountain, and the cloud, and Moses' en- 
trance into it, from eveiy part of the plain, supposing 
that William's conjecture be correct, and Gebel Min- 

able to find." B. Researches, vol. i, p. 132, — and see also pp. 175 
sqq., where he recapitulates ' ; the grounds which led us to the con- 
viction, that the plain of er-Rahah, above described, is the probable 
spot where the congregation of Israel were assembled." Dr. Robin- 
son thus came to the same conviction as myself a year subse- 
quently — though his opinion as to the identity of Mount Sinai is 
very different. [1847.] 

o 2 



196 



GEBEL MINNEGIA, 



negia be really Sinai. I climbed up it this afternoon ; 
the highest point is a sheet of dark sunburnt granite, 
and from thence I looked over the convent, directly up 
the El Raha ; the mountain stands single, isolated by 
deep ravines, on three sides very precipitous. 

It would appear, moreover, from the account of 
Moses, that he went and returned, communicating 
between the people and their God, without much diffi- 
culty of ascent ; a hale old man, as he was till his 
death, could easily ascend and descend this mountain 
twice or thrice in a day— certainly not either Gebel 
Mousa or Gebel Katerin. 

There is nothing in the Bible to lead us to suppose 
Mount Sinai a very lofty mountain ; yet that it was 
some distance from the camp, though visible from it, 
we may gather from the account of Moses' return with 
the two tables ; " Moses turned and went down from the 
mount, and as soon as he drew nigh unto the camp, he 
saw the calf and the dancing," &c. 

The directions to Moses, before the audible utter- 
ance of the commandments, were, that bounds should 
be set unto the people round about, " that they go not 
up to the mountain, or touch the border of it," on pain 
of death. And, on the third day, Moses brought the 
people out of the camp to meet with God — (probably 
leading some of them up the valley of the convent, 
and sending others by a more circuitous road to the 
other side of the mountain) — and they stood at the 
nether part of the mount, &c. — and when the people 
heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, &c, 
they removed, and stood afar off, retreating, I take it, 
to the plain, from which they could see just as well; 
indeed, the divine command was, " Get ye into your 
tents again." 

The inference from these considerations is what I 



PERHAPS MOUNT SINAI. 



have already anticipated, — that neither Gebel Mousa 
nor Mount St. Catherine is the real Sinai, the Mount 
of God — but that Gebel Minnegia is — as it answers to 
the conditions of Holy Writ better. It would surprise 
you, however, to see what a hillock it is in comparison 
with the heights around it. ( 18 ) 

Yet what, after all, avails the inquiry, if we think merely 
of the stage, and not of the action performed on it? 
This is the wilderness of Sinai — there can be no doubt 
of that; and, whichever the individual mount may have 
been, every hill around heard the thunder and quaked 
at the sound of the trumpet, waxing louder and louder 
as God descended in the cloud, — and trembled at the 
" still small voice," that, deeper than the thunder, and 
high above the trumpet, spoke to every man's ear and 
heart that fiery law — holy, and just, and good — exist- 
ing from all eternity, which requires of man that 
spotless obedience which he cannot yield, and at the 
first transgression, even in thought, of its purity, lays 
him under the curse of eternal death — " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbour as thyself." 

One only of Adam's seed, the man Christ Jesus, has 
fulfilled that law ; we must travel to Jerusalem— we 
must look to the cross on Calvary, to obtain pardon for 
having broken it. 

Well, dear Anne ! time is flying — 'tis eleven at 
night; Hussein arrived this evening with the camels, 
and the sheikhs of the eastern tribes of the Peninsula 
to whom they belong; the bargain is struck, and we 
start betimes to-morrow morning. Adieu ! 

Yours, my dear Anne ! I have now a right to 
subscribe myself 

Hadji Lindsay. 



198 



abballah's wound. 



LETTER II. 

Departure for Akaba — Abdallah's wound — return to the Convent — 
joined by Dr. Mac Lennan and Mr. Clarke. 

Convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, 

April 15, 1837. 

You will be surprised, my dear mother, to find that 
we are still at Mount Sinai. We started for Petra on 
Thursday morning, the 23rd of March, as we proposed 
when I last wrote, and had advanced two days on the 
road to Akaba, when an accident occurred to Abdallah, 
which obliged us to return to the convent, and has de- 
tained us here ever since. We had pitched the tents, 
and were just lying down to rest ourselves, when a 
pistol went off, and we heard him crying, " Son morto t" 
He had shot himself — not in the stomach, as we feared 
at first, but in the thigh ; the strength of the muscle 
turned the ball, and it had come out three or four 
inches below. What was to be done ? We were two 
days east of the convent— no doctor nearer than Cairo, 
except a Pole, who had left Mount Sinai the morning 
before in a contrary direction. I despatched an Arab 
forthwith, on one of the dromedaries, to Cairo for a 
surgeon, bidding him call at the convent to see whether 
Dr. Mac Lennan, our Essouan friend, also bound for 
Petra, had arrived there. Poor Abdallah was obliged 
to interpret, and give all these directions himself. 

Hussein, meanwhile, and the Arabs, dressed his 
wound with rakie, a fiery brandy distilled from dates, 
which they consider a sovereign specific, — we thought 
it best to let them doctor him their own way ; they 
then gave him a soporific draught, made of a shrub 



abdallah's wound. 



199 



called shia, that grows wild in the desert,* and pre 
sently he fell fast asleep — not so we. This was on 
Friday night, Good Friday. 

The next two days passed very heavily, as you may 
well imagine. After much deliberation, we contrived a 
bed for him, as comfortable as circumstances admitted 
of, on the back of a camel. Hussein and Xuzzer, an 
other of our Bedouins — kind attentive creatures — 
walked by his side the whole of boih days, steadying 
the bed and taking care of him, but he suffered much, 
and groaned sadly ; the shia drink, however, procured 
him some refreshing sleep. What with the wound, the 
camels' pace on uneven and rocky ground, and the 
heat of the sun, an European would have been in a 
high fever, but he arrived at the Convent as cool almost 
as he left it — most providentially, for no Dr. Mac Len- 
nan had arrived, and no one knew how to bleed him, 
had that operation been requisite. Then for his en- 
trance — there w*as no possible way of effecting it ex- 
cept by the rope and windlass ; it was a ticklish busi- 
ness. William stayed below, and I above, to direct 
proceedings ; he was hoisted up, secured by cords, in 
• one of our iron bedsteads, William and Missirie steady- 
ing it by two ropes below. The projecting window- 
ledge was too narrow to admit of the bed's ascent to 
the level of the window, and, consequently, to get at 
him, it was necessarily so much depressed at one end, 
that I dreaded his slipping through, a fall of thirty feet. 
It was an anxious moment till we got hold of him, and 
when we o*id, poor fellow, he was obliged to twist him- 
self, and we to pull him, out of the bed and round the 
cords it was suspended by, before we could land him. 



" The Shih, or Artemisia Judaica of Sprengel." Robinson. 
[1847.] 



200 



DR. MAC LENNAN'S ARRIVAL 



He bore it nobly, however ; and never was I more 
thankful than when we fairly laid him down in the 
court of the convent. 

This is the twenty-second day since his wound, and, 
thank God ! he has been recovering, I may say, from 
the very moment he received it. He has had no fever, 
has suffered no pain for many days past, and Dr. Mao 
Lennan, who arrived the day before yesterday, says he 
will be well, and able to return to Cairo by the end of 
the month. 

Our Bedouin messenger rode night and day, and, 
resting only three hours at the convent, arrived at 
Cairo on the fourth day, and returned in five to Mount 
Sinai ; extraordinary speed, when we reflect that the 
journey had taken us nine days and a half. Dr. Mac 
Lennan was on the eve of starting for Mount Sinai, 
and kindly undertook to prescribe for Abdallah ; he 
WuS detained, however, on the road, and when he made 
his appearance, we had almost given up all hopes of 
his arrival. 

Hussein, by the bye, unlike most Orientals, did not 
at all like our sending for a Frank hakim, or doctor, for 
Abdallah. 66 Let me take him to my tent," said he, 
66 and I will soon cure him." 

A hare having crossed the road when we were start- 
ing that morning, Abdallah cocked the pistol to fire at 
it; it was too quick for him, and he replaced the pistol 
in his belt without uncocking it. At night, when he 
was hanging it up, something caught the trigger, and 
it went off. Missirie was close to him ; it was a mercy 
neither he nor any of the Arabs were hurt. A hare's 
crossing the road on starting, is as bad an omen 
among Mahometans, as among the Thugs of India, or 
our own Highlanders. The Arabs attributed the acci- 
dent, not to Abdallah's carelessness, but to the unlucky 



AT THE CONVENT. 



201 



animal. The only way to counteract its evil influence 
on such an encounter, is to shoot it. 

This fortnight's or rather three weeks' residence in 
the Convent has glided away, all things considered, 
very agreeably ; we have been reading most indus- 
triously, the perfect stillness reigning for hours to- 
gether, no Franks being here, and the monks seldom 
leaving their cells, except to obey an occasional sum- 
mons to prayer — perfect stillness, broken only, now 
and then, by the report of an Arab's gun, echoing 
among the mountains, and an occasional symphony 
from the Convent cats — wonderfully promoting our 
disposition to study. The garden has been my fre- 
quent resort, either walking under the shady olives, or 
sitting in a tree, reading Shakespeare. The Superior 
generally pays us a visit once a day, and a strange 
jargon we talk — a medley of Arabic, Italian, ancient 
and modern Greek. 

He has given us two most extraordinary prints, 
engraved, I believe, in Russia, above a century ago ; 
one representing the life and posthumous adventures 
of St. Catherine, the other — I hardly know how to 
describe it ; Sinai and Gebel Katerin (Moses receiving 
the Law on the one, and angels bearing the body of 
the Saint to the other) occupy the centre of the design 
—our Saviour's Crucifixion is represented between 
them — Alexandria and Cairo, the Pyramids, the Nile, 
the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his host drowning, are 
seen in the distance — the Tabernacle, the Golden Calf, 
the Brazen Serpent, are disposed round the sacred 
mountain, while the foreground is occupied by the 
Convent and its garden, and a group of Arabs, aiming 
with guns, and bows and arrows, at the monk who is 
letting down their supply of bread. — Alas for the unities ! 

Having lost so much time, we have determined on 



2C2 



TOUALEB. 



sending our heavy baggage, under Styrio's care, (a 
Greek we have procured from Cairo, in lieu of Ab- 
dallah,) across the desert direct to Jerusalem, and 
riding, ourselves, the whole way on dromedaries, taking 
nothing with us but the necessary provender, consist- 
ing chiefly of rice, biscuits, dried dates, coffee, a few 
tongues, and water in skins, our small tent, and the 
blankets and sheets of our beds, which will serve for 
sada.es. ( 19 ) Dr. Mac Lennan and Clarke join us, 
sending on their baggage the same way. Toualeb, 
another of Laborde's companions on his journey to 
Petra, accompanies them — a mild, pleasing-looking, 
quiet man ; he bears as high a character, I believe, as 
his noble clansman Hussein.* With these gallant 
duineuasals (for that seems to be their rank — private 
Highland gentlemen) for our guides, we shall get on 
famously. Monday morning the dromedaries will be 
here, and then — heigho for Petra ! 

Adieu, mv dear mother. Abdallah will take this 
letter with him to Cairo. 

* Toualeb accompanied Dr. Robinson, who speaks of him repeat- 
edly and with high praise, as " uniformly kind, patient, accommo- 
dating, trustworthy, and faithful. . . . He w T as now about sixty 
years old, and obviously in the wane of his strength. . . . For 
a great part of the time he was with us, he was labouring under ill 
health. His wife had died not long before, leaving him two children, 
a boy of some twelve years of age, and a girl about eight. These 
children were now in our train. On inquiry of their father, how 
he came to take them on such a journey, he said they were alone at 
heme, and he had intended to leave them so ; but on his coming 
away, they cried to go with him, and he said, 4 No matter; get upon 
the camels and come along/ . . . The children were light and 
active. The boy usually watched the camels when they were turned 
loose to feed. The little girl had fine eyes and a pleasing face. She 
usually wore only a long flowing shirt, but had a blanket for the 
night and for cooler days ; and commonly rode all day bare-headed 
under a burning sun. She at first stood in great fear of the strangers, 
nor did her shyness towards us ever finally w ear off." JB. Researches, 
vol. i, pp. 172, 220, 310. [1847.] 



THE MEZEINE. 



203 



LETTER III. 

Route to Akaba — conference with the Alouins — TTady Araba — 
— Sheikh Hussein's camp — Mount Seir — Petra — cross the desert 
to Hebron — Bethlehem — approach to Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem, 3rd May, 1837. 

Monday morning, my dear mother, the 1st of May, we 
arrived at Jerusalem, after a long, prosperous, and 
most interesting journey through the wilderness, during 
which, thank God ! I have enjoyed perfect health, and 
suffered, upon the whole, very little fatigue. Through 
the kindness of a French naval officer, a perfect 
stranger to us, who leaves Jerusalem to-morrow, you 
will receive this letter some weeks sooner than if I 
wrote either from Beyrout or Cairo. 

My last from Mount Sinai informed you how well 
Abdallah was doing, and that we hoped he would be 
in Cairo by the end of April; he left the Convent, I 
find, the day after we did. I thought it useless to say 
anything to aiami you, but when we started on 
Monday the 17th, we were in considerable doubt 
whether or not we should be able to effect our pro- 
posed journey. News came on Sunday morning that 
war was proclaimed between the three Conyent tribes 
and the Mezeine, on account of a claim preferred by 
the latter to convey travellers to Akaba as well as the 
former, in whom the monopoly is at present vested. 
Hussein arrived that evening in his holiday attire, and 
confirmed the tale ; he said, however, that he and 
Toualeb would willingly take us to Akaba; they would 
not fight in the Mezeine country, " but if they attack 
us in ours," said he, "we will: — you must look on, and 
bear testimony at Cairo." 



204 



WADY SAHAL. 



We started accordingly for Akaba on Monday, at 
half-past two, and reached it about* eleven on Thurs- 
day morning, having performed five camel-days' journey 
in thirty hours and a half — less than three of the 
dromedaries. The second night we encamped in the 
enemy's country, but our Bedouins, though they had 
come well armed, seemed to entertain little apprehen- 
sion of an attack. I fancy the tale must have been 
exaggerated to enhance the price demanded for the 
dromedaries, and that a certain Sheikh Islamaun, who 
had been very troublesome at our departure from the 
convent, was at the bottom of it. We resisted his 
demands, and left him in a great fright, Clarke having 
asked his name and written it down before his face, a 
ceremony that has a wonderfully quieting effect upon 
a noisy Arab. 

But I must not run on quite so fast. Though we 
quitted the convent walls at half-past two, on Monday, 
we lost half an hour at the entrance to Wady Sheikh, 
stopping to settle ourselves, and re-arrange the baggage ; 
the Arabs always like to do so on commencing a 
journey. We got fairly off at three, and at four passed 
the Sheikh's or Saint's tomb, which gives its name to 
this noble valley — a great scene of Arab pilgrimage and 
festivity at the date-harvest. Presently, leaving Wady 
Sheikh to the left, we commenced the long ascent of 
Wady Sahal* — strange whispering voices, without any 
visible cause for them, echoing among the rocks, as I 
walked on in advance, and out of sight, of the caravan ; 
it was easy, on reflection, to account for them, still it 
was impossible not to think of Milton's 

" aery tongues that syllable men's names 
. On sands and shores, and desert wildernesses." ( 20 ) 



* Wady Sal. Robinson. [1847.] 



DISTRICT OF HUDDRA. 



205 



We halted at half-past five, a little beyond the 
spot where we encamped the first time we attempted 
this road, and which commanded a most beautiful -pros- 
pect of the Sinaite mountains. 

The following morning, after hastily breakfasting on 
a rock, we commenced the eastward descent of Wady 
Sahal, which now narrowed into a long and picturesque 
defile. We reached its termination in about two hours 
and a half, and thence proceeded through Wady ul 
Meran and Wady Legebi* (its curious sandstone rocks 
resembling the ruins of enormous buildings), — about 
one o'clock, w T e passed the spot where Abdallah shot 
himself, seventeen camel, nine dromedary hours from 
Mount Sinai ; and then entered the district of Huddrat 
— never did I see such a dismal wilderness ; it is neither 
mountain nor valley, though the Bedouins call it both 
indifferently, but one vast mass of arid rock — sometimes 
split into deep ravines, presenting perpendicular walls 
on either side, smooth as if cut down like a hay-rick, 
yet honey-combed in long, narrow, parallel lines, re- 
sembling at a distance friezes of Egyptian hierogly- 
phics — sometimes, a succession of isolated rocks, 
crumbling, as it were, with decay, jagged as if an ocean 
had torn its way between them, and generally shape- 
less, though one, as we passed it, singularly resembled 
a criosphinx. I have not a doubt that Burckhardt is 
right in his conjecture that this is the Hazeroth of 
Moses, where Miriam — nay, the very rocks look stricken 
with leprosy 4 

* WadyMurrah? and Wady Ajeibah. Robinson, [1847.] 
f El-Hudhera. Robinson. [1847.] 

% Dr. Robinson observes that " the identity of the Arabic and 
Hebrew names is apparent, each containing the corresponding radi- 
cal letters ; and the distance of eighteen hours from Sinai accords well 
enough with the hypothesis. The determination of this point is perhaps 



206 



WADY SEMRHL 



Beyond Huddra, we crossed the mountains on foot 
into Wady Kesale* (Bissah ?) — I saw a few inscriptions 
there, in the unknown character of Wady Mokatteb ; 
and then, passing through Wady Ruhabiyeh,t we en- 
camped in Wady SemrhijJ after above eleven hours' ride. 

We had a long talk with Hussein and Toualeb that 
night, partly about the tribes of the peninsula, partly 
about our own situation, for, as 1 said above, we were 
in the heart of the enemies' country here. Toualeb 
told us, with a funny air of secrecy, that they had a 
Gherashi man with them, one of a tribe in alliance with 
the Mezeine, ( 21 ) and that, if they molested us, they 
would kill him. " Hussein and I," said he, turning to 
him with a gesture of affection, " are brothers, and if 
any man hurts me, Hussein will have his life." " We 
are all brothers," said Hussein — and indeed I should 
love him as a brother, were I to take to the tent and 
turn Bedouin, as our friend Clarke often threatens he 
will for a season. § 

of more importance in Biblical history than would at first appear ; 
for if this position be adopted for Hazeroth, it settles at once the 
question as to the whole route of the Israelites between Sinai and 
Kadesh. It shows, that they must have followed the route upon which 
we now were to the sea, and so along the coast to Akabah; and 
thence probably through the great Wady el-Arabah to Kadesh. In- 
deed, such is the nature of the country, that having once arrived at 
this fountain, they could not well have varied their course, so as to 
have kept aloof from the sea and continued along the high pla- 
teau of the western desert-" B. Researches, vol. i, p. 224. I need 
only add, that the identity of El Huddra and Hazeroth need not 
(I think) be questioned, even on the supposition of Gebel Serbal 
being the true Sinai. [1847.] 

* Wady Ghuzaleh. Robinson. [1847.] 

f Wady er-Euweihibiveh. Robinson, [1847.] 

J "Wady es-Samghy. Robimon. [1847.] 

§ The affair alluded to here- and at the commencement of this let- 
ter was a much more serious one than I was aware of at the time. 
Dr. Robinson relates the story as follows, as he heard it from the 



WADY SEMRHT. 



207 



Wednesday morning, we descended through Wady 

Arabs on the spot : — M Only two of the divisions of the Sawaliheh, 
viz., the Dhuheiry and Awarimeh, together with the tribe Aleikat, 
stand in the relation of Ghaf irs or protectors to the convent : while 
the other division of the former tribe, the Kurrashy, as also the tribe 
Muzeiny, do not enjoy this privilege. Hence the Kurrashy and 
Muzeiny are often in league against the convent and its protectors ; 
and at all times cherish towards them an unfriendly spirit. An in- 
stance of this kind occurred no longer ago than the preceding year, 
in reference to Lord Lindsay and his party on their departure from 
the convent. . . . The Kurrashy and Muzeiny, wishing to 
break down the monopoly of the protectors, applied to carry the 
party from the convent to Akabah. As soon as this became known, 
the three tribes of protectors assembled in Wady Seheb (near Wady 
esh-Sheikh) under their sheikhs Musa and Muteir; while the two 
former tribes also collected in Wady el-Akhdar under their sheikhs 
Salih and Khudeir. The decision of the travellers was waited for 
with anxiety. If they concluded to take those who were not pro- 
tectors, it was to be the signal for the protectors to fall upon the 
others in deadly conflict. But they decided for the protectors : and 
then the other party declared that they would appeal to the Pasha. 
Here, however, the convent in Cairo interfered, and the appeal was 
never made." B. Researches, vol. i, p. 20-5. 

1 have no doubt this is all strictly correct. The question, whether 
w-i would adhere to long-established usage or no, was proposed and 
answered in a breath, as might be expected from English Conserva- 
tives — and thus, it seems, much bloodshed was prevented. We 
• attached little importance to it at the moment, but I remember as if 
it were yesterday the arrival of Hussein, in his holiday dress, fresh 
from the council described by Dr. Robinson, as the ambassador and 
spokesman of the protector tribes, and our conference in the garden, 
seated in a circle under the olive-trees— the grey-bearded superior 
presiding, a few of the monks in their long robes gTouped beside 
him — ourselves opposite — Missirie standing a little without the circle 
interpreting, and Hussein in the midst gesticulating as he spoke — 
the bright sun-rays glancing the while through the olive -leaves, and 
flickering on the ground beneath us. — M Subsequently to this," adds 
Dr. Robinson, " a French traveller took one of the Muzeiny as guide 
to Akabah, against the counsel and influence of the convent, the 
Arab having gained over the dragoman of the traveller by a present. 
But by the advice of the convent, the protectors Uok no further 
revenge than to procure for him a sound drubbing at Akabah. . ► 



208 



CONFERENCE WITH THE ALOUINS. 



Saadi by a most romantic pass called El Boueb,* to 
Nouebe,t ( 22 ) on the gulf of Akaba, ( 23 ) a village of the 
Mezeine, surrounded by superb date-trees. From this 
place, the road follows the shore almost the whole way 
to the Fort of Akaba, and the scenery is at once mag- 
nificent and lovely. The weather was beautiful, the 
breeze delicious, and I never enjoyed myself more. 
Numbers of diminutive crabs were running about on the 
sands, and little fish and small sharks in great numbers 
sporting in the shallows. The shore was covered with 
leaves and " scattered sedge" washed in by the tide, 

" Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks 
In Vallorobrosa" — 

if I may unyoke a couple of Milton's similes, and make 
them tilt at each other, on the principle that things that 
are equal to the same thing are equal to one another. 
There too I tasted the red homr-berry — very sweet, but 
it made me thirstier than our scanty provision of water 
justified. 

After eleven hours' ride and a half, the camels being 
quite knocked up, we halted in Wady Gheblee — five 
hours more on Thursday morning took us to the fort 
of iVkaba. 

The Turkish Governor here proved a most un- 
courteous dog. When Clarke spoke to him, he neither 
looked up nor took any notice of him, and when we 
all sat down under a verandah of dried palm-leaves, he 
offered us no pipes ; on this Clarke and Ramsay asked 
for theirs, and, after a few whirls, offered them to 

There seems, however, a strong probability, that this matter will not 
be definitively settled without blood." B. Researches, loc. cit. What 
may have happened since in this struggle of Whig and Tory interests 
in the peninsula I know not. [1847.] 

* El Abweib. Robinson. [1847.] 

f Ain el-Xaiweibia. Robinson. [1847.] 



THE ALOUINS. 



209 



Hussein and Toualeb, which much surprised the Turks ; 
and our coolness, taking no notice of them in return 
for their incivility, and chatting and laughing just in 
our usual way, as if they had not been present, seemed 
quite to disconcert them. The consequence w T as, that the 
next day the Governor was all smiles and complaisance. 
We parted with our friends Hussein and Toualeb that 
night ; they offered to go on with us, if we wished it, 
but said that the Alouins, (with whom we were to pro- 
ceed to Petra and Hebron) were men with " big bellies" 
— they were nothing in comparison with them, and 
could be of no use to us; they were evidently very 
unwilling to proceed, and we also, on further considera- 
tion, thought it would be better to make our own bar- 
gain, and trust ourselves wholly to the Alouins, when 
once it was struck. We kissed, therefore, and parted, 
and they went back to their own countiy the same 
night. * 

Bed-time came ; the travellers' room absolutely 
swarmed with bugs ; my friends lay down to sleep, — 
I had not courage to do so, but sat up reading all 
night — the creatures absolutely covered me, crawling 
down over the very page I was reading; my companions 
on the floor fared still worse — grievous were the ex- 
clamations. And sad to say, there was no escape — 
the door had a spring-lock, and one of the party having 

* " We parted with our Towarah Arabs with regret, and with 
the kindest feelings. For thirty days they had now been our com- 
panions and guides through the desert, and not the slightest diffi- 
culty had arisen between us. On the contrary > they had done all in 
their power to lighten the toils of our journey, and protect us from 
discomforts by the way. In all our subsequent journeyings we 
found no guides so faithful and devoted." Dr. Robinson, B. Re- 
searches, vol. i, p. 311. — 44 A more honest, simple, kind-hearted set 
of men," says Mr. Kinnear, " I never met with." Cairo, Petra, SfC. % 
p. 113. [1847.] 

P 



210 THE ALOUINS. 

shut it imprudently, we were fairly prisoners; there 
was nothing for it but patience — it was certainly the 
most wretched night I ever spent; however, I had a 
refreshing plunge in the Red Sea next morning, which 
set me quite to rights. The second night we slept 
under the verandah of the court — a most happy 
change. The fort, a very ordinary building, is em- 
bowered in groves of beautiful palm-trees. 

On Saturday morning, the twenty- second, Sheikh 
Hussein, and Sheikh Salem, two chieftains of the 
Alouins,* whom we had sent for on Thursday, arrived 
at the fort. The prices paid by former travellers for 
conveyance to Petra and Hebron had been most ex- 
orbitant ; one gentleman, acting on a generous, but I 
think, mistaken principle, threw away £150, in order 
to prepossess the Bedouins in favour of the English ; 
another allowed himself to be dictated to, and paid 
whatever his guides demanded, gave them whatever 
they asked for on the road, and his tent, dress, and all 
his camp equipage, a double-barrelled gun, &c. on 
arriving at Hebron ! We felt no inclination to imitate 
their example, more especially as two gentlemen, 
Messrs. Beke and Estridge, had passed a few weeks 
before for four thousand two hundred piastres, equiva- 
lent, including presents, &c. to about fifty pounds. 
We were four, and the demands of the Bedouins had 
generally been regulated by the number of travellers. 

* Dr. Robinson seems to confound Sheikh Salem with Sheikh 
Hussein, and observes, " This is the same person whom Schubert 
calls 8 Emir Salem of Gaza, the great Sheikh of the Araba.' We 
heard nothing of any such name or attributes." We understood 
him to be Sheikh Hussein's brother, which, in Arab phrase, may 
imply kinsman. Great respect was shown him, even by Hussein 
himself, when we were his guests afterwards at the camp. Mr. 
Kinnear, I observe, also describes him as Sheikh Hussein's brother. 
[1847.] 



THE ALOUINS. 



211 



We determined, therefore, to bargain merely with 
reference to the number of camels, — all of us agreeing 
in the wish to clear the way for future travellers by 
reducing to something reasonable the absurd price 
hitherto paid for passage through a most interesting 
country, — not that we did not also, as Britons, feel 
considerable dislike at the idea of allowing ourselves 
to be cheated, and travelling as servants instead of 
masters. We took up our line therefore, persevered in 
it, and were completely successful, having had our own 
way from first to last. 

Accordingly, after seating our guests on the divan 
outside our apartment, and presenting them with 
coffee, &c, we asked them with very little ceremony, 
and as a mere every -day bargain, for what sum they 
would convey us by Wady Mousa to Hebron ? Sheikh 
Hussein's first demand was fifteen thousand piastres, 
that is one hundred and fifty pounds, for twenty-three 
camels, alleging that number to be requisite for our- 
selves and a guard. We told them that two acquaint- 
ances of ours had gone through for four thousand four 
hundred, and that we had no idea of paying more, as 
we should not require more camels than they did. 
They then came down to ten thousand, and eight 
thousand. We left them, and retired into our den, 
leaving them to talk it over. Presently they sent in 
to say, they were going ; had we any thing more to 
say ? " No ! " was the answer. On this, they came in 
themselves, and said the sum offered was too little, — 
a long discussion ensued, but without the fury we ex- 
pected, — perhaps the coffee we assiduously plied them 
with smoothed matters. We told them we had already 
sent our baggage direct to Hebron ; if it suited their 
convenience to take us for four thousand piastres, it 
would suit ours to pay that sum, but no more ; if you 

P 2 



212 



THE GOVERNOR. 



will take us, taib ! if not, taib ! We would pay what 
our countrymen had paid, though they had heavy 
baggage, and we had scarcely any. It ended by their 
proposing four thousand five hundred — we wished to 
have a hold over them, and caught at it. " Well," we 
said, " Englishmen have one word ; four thousand 
piastres is our word : if we are satisfied with your con- 
duct on the journey, we will give you five hundred 
more at El Halil (Hebron) as bagshish." They agreed 
to this, and the bargain was struck ; — three thousand 
(as our predecessors had also stipulated) to be paid 
here, the rest at Hebron, and nothing whatever to be 
paid or given, either to themselves or any other tribes 
or individuals, on the road. 

The camels were at the gate, ready to be let in, and 
we should have started immediately, had not a new 
difficulty arisen in a refusal on the part of the governor 
to let them in, or us out, unless we paid the soldiers 
two hundred piastres ; this we positively refused, telling 
him that we had intended giving one hundred and 
eight to himself for his apartments, which we offered 
him ; he would not take them, went off in a huff, and 
we saw no more of him. 

Matters looked rather serious now; the gates were 
shut, the soldiers interested in keeping us in, our per- 
sonal and national honour interested in getting out 
without submitting to this extortion. We produced 
the Pasha's firman, and threatened to write to Habib 
Effendi at Misr (Cairo) unless the gates were opened. 
This did no good. The Sheikh, even Missirie, earn- 
estly begged us to give in, but we were very unwilling 
to do so, though, to all appearance, there was no other 
chance of our getting out. At this moment, however, 
the topffi, or head-gunner, the man next in authority to 
the governor, and a nasty, sneaking rascal, imperti- 



THE GOVERNOR 



213 



nently interfering in the conversation, Clarke told him, 
in plain Arabic, to hold his tongue ; which produced a 
most unlooked-for effect; he ran away in a rage, and 
saying it was no use keeping the Franks in to insult 
him, ordered the gates to be opened, and the camels 
admitted; and presently came fawning up to Clarke 
like a beaten spaniel.* 

The difficulty was over and the point given up, but, 
at the Sheikh's intercession, we gave a bagshish to the 
porter, and two or three similar fees, which redeemed 
our character from illiberality as effectually as our 
previous opposition had established it for English in- 
flexibility. We experienced the good effects of our 
resistance all the rest of the journey. At its com- 
mencement the Sheikh was constantly begging for this 
and that in a most unchieftain-like manner, and so did 
some of his people; but I must do them the justice to 
say they were a far superior set to their Sheikh, a weak 
man apparently, greedy and encroaching, but infirm of 
purpose, so that, finding the English had one word 
always, he made no attempt latterly either to control, 
frighten, or flatter us.t 

* We did write to Cairo after reaching Jerusalem, and the repre- 
sentation seems to have been attended to, for Dr. Robinson, a year 
afterwards, found the governor " a young man, who had been here 
only four or five months ; his predecessor having been recalled, it 
was said, on account of incivility to former travellers. There w T as 
therefore, in his whole demeanor towards us, now, and afterwards, 
an air of studied endeavour, not indeed to please and gratify us, but 
so to conduct himself as to avoid complaint and future censure." — 
The Doctor, however, eventually, like ourselves, " found the whole 
establishment to be a nest of harpies, and was heartily glad to quit 
the castle." B. Researches, vol. i, pp. 242, 249. — Messrs. Kinnear, 
Pell, and Roberts, taking warning by our entrapment, encamped 
outside the walls. Cairo, Petra, SfC, p. 99. [1847.] 

f Mr. Kinnear, who travelled with Sheikh Hussein a year after- 
wards, and had experience of his rapacity, observes, " Notwithstand- 



214 BEDOUIN CHARACTER. 

The Bedouins feel no shame in begging, and, unless 
met firmly at first, will prove very troublesome to a 
traveller. They are perfect children in their demands ; 
fancy their asking us for kohol, or antimony, for tinging 
the eyelids, in the heart of the desert! Thus much 
premised, they possess many fine and generous quali- 
ties, in which the belladeen, or town-Arabs, are very 
deficient ; they will cheat, lie, stoop to any meanness, 
to win in a bargain, but, once struck, they will adhere 
to it faithfully; they will plunder without mercy the 
traveller they casually meet in the desert, but one 
might trust one's life to a Bedouin after having struck 
hands and eaten with him. 

So secure is property in the peninsula of Mount 
Sinai, that, on a tree going to Akaba, Ave found a cloak 
still hanging up untouched, which some traveller had 
left there more than three weeks before, when we first 
travelled that road. I have no doubt it is still hanging 
there, unless the owner has reclaimed it.* The 
Sheikhs, like the Forty Thieves, have much wealth in 
rich dresses, &c. laid up in caves in different parts of 

ing this, Sheikh Hussein is rather a remarkable character. Although 
one of the chiefs of a very powerful tribe, he is no warrior. Indeed 
his own followers did not scruple to say, 4 Hussein is a great coward;' 
but they added, 4 he can do more with his tongue than all the other 
sheikhs with their swords/ He is certainly the most unblushing 
liar I ever met with. . . . He is naturally of a very irascible 
temper, over which, however, he has most perfect command." Cairo, 
Petra, Sfc, p. 174. — This character I should think correct. At the 
same time I must do him the justice to say that we never found him 
in speech or manner ungentlemanlike, and, so far as I could judge, 
he bore no malice in return for our uniformly insisting on having 
our own way. [1847.] 

* " In passing through Wady Sa'l, on our way to Akabah," says 
Dr. Robinson, " we saw a black tent hanging on a tree ; Taweileb 
said it was there when he passed the year before, and would never 
be stolen." B. Researches, vol. i, p. 210. — I had mistaken it for a 
cloak. [1847. J 



WADY ARABA. 



215 



the peninsula; the situation of these is well known, 
and they are merely secured by wooden locks, but no 
one, I believe, ever heard of their being violated. The 
vices of towns are said to be almost unknown among 
them. Like all mankind, they have much good and 
much evil mixed up in their compositions, but their 
vices seem to be of a less debasing character than those 
of any other orientals. 

Our guides were, for the most part, cheerful, good- 
humoured fellows, handsome, with a wild and fierce 
expression of countenance, quite in character with the 
race whose hand is against every man, and every man's 
hand against theirs. We found them, however, by no 
means the hardy set we expected. 

We started for Petra at ten minutes past one. I 
cannot express to you what a relief it was to feel our- 
selves once more in the desert, free men ; and how 
strong the dislike of being cooped up within walls and 
cities grows in the course of a continued journey 
through it. Nothing could be more beautiful than the 
Gulf of Akaba, gleaming through its fringe of palm- 
trees, as we left the fort, like a placid lake — an eye, 
rather, of the deepest blue, eye-lashed with palms, and 
eye-lidded with the xlrabian mountains. 

Our course lay up the great Wady Araba — from the 
days of Solomon to those of the Romans the grand 
commercial route by which the riches of Ophir and the 
Indies were conveyed from Eloth and Eziongeber, 
(both situated near Akaba,) to Jerusalem. 

But far deeper is its interest when we think of it 
as the oft-retrodden path of the Israelites, the scene of 
so many incidents in their history, while " compassing 
Mount Seir many days," between their first residence 
at Kadesh Barnea and their final departure for the land 
of Canaan. Then, as now, it must have presented the 



216 



ENCAMPMENTS. 



same dreary waste — sand hills beyond sandhills, tufted 
with broom and other bushes, affording excellent pas- 
turage, but still a dreary solitude — a howling wilder- 
ness; while the Edomites from their Black Mountains 
looked down on them in scorn, as they slowly and 
sadly retraced their steps to Hashmonah. 

We rode on for four hours, and then halted to wait 
for the Sheikh, who had remained behind in the fortress. 
He came at last — the governor, when we were gone, 
shut the gates, and extorted from him five hundred 
piastres of those he had received from us ! He sat 
down with " his children" round him in a circle, and 
drank his coffee, and we presently remounted, and rode 
on for two hours and a half by starlight. 

The description of one night's encampment will give 
you an idea of all. We halted usually on some spot 
where the camels could find shrubs for food, and we 
dry bushes for fuel ; three fires were then lighted, one 
for Missirie and Hassan, Clarke's servant, one for the 
Sheikh and his children, and a third for the lower caste 
of his clansmen. Nothing could be more picturesque 
than the night-scenes these fires and the wild groups 
gathered round them exhibited. The first night two 
Arabs quarrelled and flew at each other with their 
drawn swords, but were held back by their friends, and 
with some (apparent) difficulty pacified. If a ruse to 
try our nerves, which I hope we were not uncharitable 
in believing it, it failed egregiously. — The Arabs, by 
the way, when they do come to blows, always strike 
with the palms of their hands, as the soldiers struck 
our Saviour — never with the fist. Our tent was soon 
pitched and struck ; our food was rice, bread, tongues, 
coffee, and occasionally mutton ; a blanket and the 
sheets of our bedding took up little room, serving for 
saddles during the day-time, and we made easy shift 



SHEIKH HUSSEIN'S CAMP. 



217 



with two or three changes of linen. And was not this 
faring like princes? We were off almost always before 
sunrise, and travelled about ten or eleven hours till 
near sun-set, resting about half an hour, generally, at 
mid-day. We enjoyed the most lovely weather during 
the whole journey; excessive heat was what we ex- 
pected, but it proved, on the contrary, delightfully cool 
and temperate. 

Starting at four in the morning, we reached Sheikh 
Hussein's camp about one, on Sunday afternoon. The 
tents were ranged in a crescent, and very low, except 
the Sheikh's. We alighted before it, and were most 
gracefully received by his eldest son, a boy about ten 
or eleven, arrayed in his little kefia, or head-dress of 
the desert, red boots, &c, a Bedouin Sheikh in minia- 
ture ; in fact, he bears that rank, and wields a Sheikh's 
authority in the camp, during his father's absence. 
Sheikh Hussein, determined that we should be his 
guests that evening, had ordered the camels that carried 
our tent to be kept in the rear ; coming up presently ? 
he renewed our welcome, and invited us into his tent, 
whither we followed, and sat down on the mat beside 
him, our backs towards the ladies' compartment, sepa- 
rated from ours by a thin partition only. We heard 
them chattering behind us at a great rate. 

It was a bright, warm afternoon, and the fire in the 
centre of the tent, and the clouds of tobacco- smoke, 
were, at first, almost stifling. The wild Alouins gathered 
round us, and presently our dejeune made its appear- 
ance ; first leban was served— sour milk, — and then a 
mixture of butter, bread, sugar — I really do not know 
all its component parts, but it was excellent, — then 
pipes, — and coffee was repeatedly served by a slave 
who sat constantly grinding and supplying new comers 
with that truly oriental luxury.( 24 ) Each guest, as he 



sheikh hussein's camp. 



entered, was kissed by the principal members of the 
circle, except the Sheikh— hearty double kisses ; the 
Sheikh rose when Sheikh Salem made his appearance. 
Little ceremony was observed, though much respect 
was shown to the Sheikh, who spoke and gesticulated 
with considerable dignity. It was a strange scene alto- 
gether, but one group was really beautiful, — Sheikh 
Hussein, in his robes of scarlet and red turban, widely 
different, both in dress and features, from his clansmen 
—with his young son, so fair and graceful, lying at his 
feet, and looking fondly up in his face. Many other 
children were admitted into the circle, or played out- 
side the tent, — all of them, seemingly, much indulged. 
Others, quite black and stark-naked, were running 
about among the tents. 

When we had had enough of it, we slipped out from 
under the corner of the tent, and repaired to our own, 
where we found the little Sheikh Mohammed sitting at 
the door, watching Missirie's proceedings ; we invited 
him in ; he sat down very modestly, at first on the sand, 
then on the bed. We gave him some preserved dates 
and nebbeks for himself and his little brothers. While 
dinner was in preparation, (for the Sheikh had killed a 
sheep for us,) we squatted before the tent with the Be- 
douins, playing with a young wolf, and watching the 
evening occupations of the camp. Children were at 
play, — women, in their long blue robes, bringing in dry 
wood for the night fires — two others were grinding at 
the mill at the door of one of the tents ; an animated 
talk was going on in the Sheikh's — his horse was prowl- 
ing about in its rich trappings, — goats (the little Be- 
douin goat is a beautiful creature) smelling about our 
tent, and at the slumbering Hassan, not knowing what 
to make of him, — dogs barking, &c. &c, a happy, 
cheerful, peaceful scene as ever I witnessed ! 



SHEIKH HUSSEIN'S CAMP. 



219 



At last, Sheikh Hussein made his appearance with a 
large wooden bowl full of mutton, and we all gathered 
round it, the Sheikh and his son, ourselves, Missirie, 
and Hassan, — and commenced operations, dipping in 
the dish, and eating with our fingers in the eastern 
fashion. Large soft cakes of excellent bread, like 
Scotch scones, disposed round the dish, served at once 
for plates and food, — read this to Sir Robert Leigh, and 
he will quote Virgil. — The Sheikh came again to coffee, 
with Abdel-Hug's (M. Linant's) letter of introduction 
for Clarke and Mac Lennan, stuck in his girdle ; yes- 
terday he carried it on his turban ; I doubt whether he 
could read it. 

The camp at night was a beautiful spectacle, a cres- 
cent of lights and fires flaming around us, the grinding 
still continuing. A lively confab was still going on in 
Sheikh Hussein's tent ; we were told afterwards that 
the tribe were much dissatisfied at his having engaged 
to conduct us for so little, — if so, it tells highly for him 
that he never mentioned it to us.* 

The grinding was still going on when we woke next 
morning ; and a man churning butter in a skin, see- 
sawing it on his knee ; two children were plaguing the 
poor little wretch of a wolf, pulling it about with a 
string — but it will bite soon. The little Sheikh Mo- 
hammed breakfasted with us on coffee, leban, and 
bread, and, before starting, we presented him with a 
pair of yellow morocco slippers and boots for his mo- 
ther, who made her appearance in her finery at the 
moment of our departure. — And so we bade farewell 
to our friendly Bedouins. 

After four hours' continual, but very gentle, ascent, 

* " JSot did any one utter the word bag&hish the whole time we 
were there." Orig. Journal [1847.] 



220 



MOUNT HOR. 



we came in sight of Mount Hor, now called Gebel 
Haroun, or Aaron's mountain, whose house Hassan 
very gravely informed us he had seen at Bagdad — mis- 
taking him for Haroun Alraschid. An hour and a half 
farther, after passing the entrance to Wady Sabra, we 
quitted Wady Araba, and ascended eastwards into the 
dreary Gebel Shera, the Mount Seir of Scripture, ( 25 ) 
through Wady Hower (which appears to be the ancient 
name of the mountain transferred to the valley) and 
Wady Abou-ghshebi.* 

We had seen nothing hitherto but sand, stones, 
rattam, and the usual thorny plants of the desert ; it 
was very hot too, that day — " Shoof !" cried somebody 
— and imagine my thrill of delight at seeing, close to 
me, a large bush of oleander in full flower ! I longed 
for you and Anne ! the Arabs call it defila.\ We saw 
plenty more of it as we advanced deeper into the 
mountains ; we encamped that night, I may almost 
say, in a little grove of it, at the point where the ravine 
widens, and the most difficult part of the ascent to 
Petra begins, — two hours and forty minutes from Wady 
Araba. The groups of Alouins that night gathered round 
their fires, their guns resting against the oleanders that 
formed a flowery crescent round our tent, were studies 
for a Salvator. I caught a young firefly — the first I 
had seen since leaving Italy. 

Next morning, the Sheikh and his people were un- 
usually officious in packing up the baggage, as they 
were the evening before in pitching the tent ; this, we 
knew, portended the birth of a difficulty, for we had 
private information that the Sheikh did not intend 
allowing us to remain more than an hour at Petra. We 
said nothing, determining, when there, to stay as long 

* Wady Abu Kusheibeh. Robinson. [1847.] 
f Nerium Oleander. Robinson. [1847.] 



PETRA. 



221 



as we chose. Accordingly, as soon as we reached it, 
and had taken possession of a cave to sleep in, we 
came to an explanation with the Sheikh, reminding 
him of his own words at Akaba, that we should stay at 
Petra two, three, four days, or as long as we liked. 
We should have reminded him that our promise of the 
five hundred piastres was only conditional, — but it was 
enough ; having learnt by this time that Englishmen 
had but one word, he soon gave in. 

I pass over the beauties and sublimities of the three 
hours' ascent and descent to Petra ; the scenery is wild 
and gloomy, but the ravines are full of those lovely 
oleanders ; vultures and hawks soared above us, but 
the little birds were singing sweetly ; the incessant 
calling of partridges was delightful to my companions' 
ears as sportsmen, and to mine also, as a lover of 
nature's mirth — though hearing it here I thought par- 
ticularly interesting, as the fulfilment of the prophecy 
that that very bird, the cormorant of our version, should 
possess Mount Seir. But most delightful of all to the 
ear, as the first sight of the oleanders yesterday to the 
eye, was the gushing of running waters as we descended 
from the hills — the little brook which flows through 
" the valley of Moses," almost concealed by luxuriant 
oleanders and wild flowers. 

We started immediately for the ravine El Syk, the 
only regular approach to Petra, fearful lest we should 
be prevented examining it by the Fellaheen or villagers 
of Wady Mousa, who bear so bad a character both 
among the Bedouins and travellers. — I am not going 
to write you a description of Petra, its magnificent ex- 
cavations, temples hewn out of the solid rock, and 
tombs ; Irby and Mangles, in their charming volume, 
and Laborde have done it already, and to them I refer 
you. Two or three words only as to our own visit, 



222 



PETRA. 



and the impression it produced on me. — Entering the 
ravine, and pushing our way through the beautiful trees 
and shrubs that, fed by its waters, overhang the brook, 
— sometimes jumping from stone to stone, and some- 
times wading up to our knees, we passed in a few 
minutes the theatre, and soon afterwards reached the 
Khasne, or treasury of Pharaoh, the wonderful excava- 
tion engraved by Laborde. Bestowing a hasty glance 
only of admiration on it, we made the best of our way 
up the ravine, our delight and wonder increasing at 
every step, — I never saw anything so wildly beautiful ; 
the brook in many places entirely covers the road, 
oleanders, evergreens, fig-trees, and willows, over- 
shadowing it in the richest luxuriance ; the rocks, 
tinged with every colour of the rainbow,* tower to a 
great height above you, and sometimes dovetail, as it 
were, into each other, so as to involve the whole defile 
in shade. t 

* u Kot the least remarkable circumstance in the peculiarities of 
this singular spot, is the colour of the rocks. They present, not 
a dead mass of dull monotonous red ; but an endless variety of 
bright and living hues, from the deepest crimson to the softest pink, 
verging also sometimes to orange and yellow. These varying shades 
are often distinctly marked by waving lines, imparting to the surface 
of the rock a succession of brilliant and changing tints, like the hues 
of watered silk, and adding greatly to the imposing effect of the 
sculptured monuments."— B. Researches, vol. ii, p. 531. We ob- 
served rocks similarly (though by no means so vividly) tinted, near 
Gebel Huddra, on the road from Mount Sinai to Akaba. [1847.] 

t 44 The character of this wonderful spot, and the impression which 
it makes, are utterly indescribable ; and I know of nothing which 
can present even a faint idea of them. I had visited the strange 
sandstone lanes and streets of Adersbach, and wandered with delight 
through the romantic dells of the Saxon Switzerland, both of which 
scenes might be supposed to afford the nearest parallel ; yet they 
exhibit few points of comparison. All here is on a grander scale of 
savage, yet magnificent sublimity." — B. Researches, vol. ii, p. 518, 
[1847.] 



PETRA. 



223 



We paused for awhile on reaching the triumphal 
arch, where the ravine expands into the valley, believ- 
ing the village of the fellahs to be very near, and un- 
certain whether it would be prudent to proceed any 
further. Our Alouin guides, however, asserting that it 
was two hours distant, (in which they were certainly 
mistaken,) we went on, and explored the valley beyond 
the Pyramidal tomb, as far as a point from which we 
could see its termination. We met only one wretched- 
looking fellah. 

The arch, thrown across the ravine, which disap- 
pointed us at first sight, had a very different effect, on 
approaching it on our return, seen, as it was intended 
to be seen, by the stranger approaching the town by 
the regular road. 

The Khasne far surpassed my expectations ; it 
would be impossible, indeed, to describe the effect ot 
such a monument suddenly revealing itself in the wil- 
derness — so graceful in its style, so beautiful in its de- 
tails, so fresh-looking, and in such peifect preservation. 
The natural colour of the stone being that of the rose, 
you may imagine its loveliness when it first gleamed 
on our sight, bathed in the sun's rays, 

The theatre, too, is grander than one would expect 
from Laborde's sketch. The seats, still almost perfect, 
are cut in the rock, winch has also been entirely cut 
away, semi-circularly, above them. The stage, and its 
accompaniments, were built of hewn stone, and have 
been destroyed. 

We did not visit the fort, as there are no remains of 
consequence. It was a stronghold of the Christians 
in the time of the Latin kings of Jerusalem, and the 
first enterprise of the gallant young Baldwin the 
Third, then a mere boy of thirteen, was to rescue it 
from the hands of the Turks, who, abetted by the 



224 



PETRA. 



natives, had massacred the Christian garrison. Hear- 
ing of the king's approach, the fellahs shut themselves 
up in the citadel, with their wives and children, and 
for several days the Christians exhausted every means 
of attack without making the slightest impression, their 
retreat was so impregnable ; nor was it till they set fire 
to the olive-trees, the only support and wealth of the 
poor people, and which then, says William of Tyre, 
formed a thick forest overshadowing the country, that 
they surrendered. ( 26 ) 

The grandest monument of the ancient magnificence 
of Petra is the stupendous excavation, called by 
Laborde El Deir, or the Convent, a name often given 
by the Arabs to ruins, in their ideas nondescript, — the 
Alouins knew nothing of it, and we spent some time 
and explored several ravines in a fruitless search for 
it; the magnificent scenery, however, well repaid our 
trouble. 

We returned to our cave, and, after dinner and the 
discussion of two bottles of champagne, reserved by 
Clarke to be broached on this grand occasion, started 
anew with two fellahs as guides, and in thirty-five 
minutes reached the object of our quest, ascending a 
magnificent ravine, which we had partially explored in 
the morning — approach being facilitated by broad steps 
cut in the rocks, wherever they presented a difficulty in 
the ascent. 

The rock has been cut away twenty-four paces on 
each side, to give relief to this wonderful excavation, 
at once stupendous and beautiful; the architecture 
indeed, with its Byzantine-like capitals, broken pedi- 
ments, &c, betrays the decadence of Grecian art, 
resembling that of the Bernini and Borromini of the 
seventeenth century; but the proportions are com- 
mendable, and there is an air of grace and lightness 



PETRA. 



225 



about it, contrasting with the savage scenery around, 
which involuntarily pleases.* A flight of steps, cut in 
the rocks to the left, leads to the summit, from which 
we enjoyed a splendid view, Mount Hor directly in 
front, and the distant mountains towards the north 
hazy in the glow of sunset. Returning to the valley, 
William discovered a large altar, cut out of the top of 
a rock, and unnoticed by previous travellers. 

It was dark ere we recrossed the stream of Wady 
Mousa. — I wish you could have stood with us that 
night at the entrance of our dormitory, and looked 
through the arch by which it communicated with the 
adjacent cave, occupied by the Alouins. A large fire 
blazed in the centre, — the Sheikh sat at the head of 
the circle, — his horse stood at the entrance, — the in- 
ferior clansmen watched by their fire at the foot of the 
Mil, with the camels crouching beside them. 

It was a beautiful, cloudless, starry night, and 
pleasant were our ruminations. In one day we had 
seen the whole of Petra. Days and weeks might be 
spent here if every excavation were visited, but we 
were quite satisfied with what we had seen, and wil- 
lingly promised the Sheikh that we would leave the 
valley next morning.— We did so, after revisiting the 
Khasne, and exploring several of the excavated dwel- 
lings, for it is clear, I think, both from the language of 

* " The upper story is in excellent preservation, but the doorway, 
pediments, and pillars of the lower are much injured. The steps of 
approach to the door are destroyed. It contains only one chamber, 
spacious, but quite unadorned and plain, with an arched recess at 
the extremity, two paces and a half deep, by five wide, and a raised 
platform, ascended on each side by four steps. Traces of (appa- 
rently) a funeral cippe are visible in the centre of the wall. Tbe 
chamber is fourteen paces broad, by sixteen deep, (not counting the 
recess), and we thought from thirty to thirty-five feet high.'* Orig. 
Journal [1847.] 

Q 



226 



THE FELLAHS. 



Scripture, and the appearance of the caves themselves, 
that the majority, if not all of them, were the abodes 
of the living, not of the dead. Some of the oldest are 
almost filled with earth, decomposed from the frag- 
ments that are constantly flaking off from the roof. I 
was surprised to find the stone so crumbling; it must 
have been as easy to cut it as chalk, — I could break it 
easily with my fingers. 

Such is Petra— the Sela of Scripture, the Hagiar of 
the Arabs, each word implying the same. — "Thyter- 
ribleness hath deceived thee and the pride of thine 
heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, 
that holdest the height of the hill ; though thou make 
thy nest as high as the eagle, though thou set thy nest 
among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith 
the Lord." ( 27 ) 

Sheikh Hussein, who was in great alarm all the 
time we were at Petra, earnestly pressed our depar- 
ture. Just before starting, some of the fellahs came to 
complain of his coming there ; it was not his country, 
they said, and he had no business in it, — nothing could 
be more true, and good reason had the poor men to 
complain, for the camels, before we discovered it, had 
destroyed a whole field of corn, turned loose, as they 
were, the moment we aimed; it was none of our fault, 
but we wished to reimburse the owner; the fellahs, 
however, saying nothing about it, it was plain the field 
could not be their property, and what then could we 
do ? — These fellahs, it seems to me, have been very 
much maligned ; they have fire-arms, and know how to 
use them, but the only ground travellers have to speak 
ill of them is the report of the Bedouins, who hate all 
townsmen, and the resistance offered by them to Abou 
Raschid when he wished to bring Irby and Mangles 
and Mr. Bankes into Wady Mousa, without their con- 



THE FELLAHS. 



227 



sent, — their jealousy having been secretly inflamed, as 
it now appears, by Abou-djazi, a rival chief of the 
Alouins. Bedouins and Franks come into their ter- 
ritory, tread down their corn, and pay nothing, do not 
even apologize for their intrusion, and then go away 
and call them savages and devils, when the wonder to 
me is that they bear it so patiently. — They will not do 
so always, or I am much mistaken.* 

Sheikh Hussein, we had reason to suspect, was not 
on good terms with the chief of the Abou Raschid 
Bedouins, who lives about four hours north of Wady 
Mousa ; he was also at open feud with the Jehaleens 
of Kerek el Shobek, a few hours beyond the Abou 
Raschid camp, — he proposed, therefore, instead of con- 
ducting us by the Kerek road, to take another, more 

* Abou Zatoun, the crafty and avaricious chief, celebrated by Irby 
and Mangles twenty years before, was still the Sheikh of Wady 
Mousa when we and Dr. Eobinson were there ; we escaped, but he 
gave Dr. Robinson much annoyance, and effectually prevented him 
from ascending Mount Hor. Most recent travellers have suffered 
from his exactions. M. Bertou, who visited Petra the same year as 
ourselves, 44 got off by giving the Sheikh all the money he had with 
him, less than one hundred piastres, with a quantity of powder, soap, 
tobacco and the like." " Mr. Roberts, the English artist, and his 
party, who went to Wady Mousa in 1839, were met by the Sheikh 
before they reached the spot ; but got off with paying three hundred 
piastres instead of one thousand.* In 1840, a large party of sixteen 
individuals, English, Americans, and Germans, making up a cara- 
van of some fifty camels, visited Wady Mousa together; and 
paid to the Arabs of the place (as I am informed," says 
Dr. Robinson, 44 by one of the party) not less than seventy-five 
piastres for each, or twelve hundred piastres in all, for permission 
to examine the ruins." Dr. Robinson attributes the escape of such 
as have fared better to their having (like ourselves) 44 taken Petra 



* Kinn€ai J 8 Cairo, Petra, §c, p. 137. The account is very curious; they were 
repeatedly attacked, and once robbed ; and Sheikh Hussein, who accompanied 
tnem, seems evidently to have connived at it. [1847.] 

q 2 



228 



WADY SEEG. 



westerly, through the country of the Tyaha Bedouins, 
a route undescribed, so far as I am aware, by any 
traveller.* 

None of the places he mentioned as occurring on 
the road being noticed in my large map, we had not 
the slightest idea how we were to get to Hebron, when 
we started for the desert on Wednesday morning, quit- 
ting Wady Mousa by a steep ascent towards the north, 
and proceeding for about three hours through a dis- 
trict called Brayitha, a succession of barren and unin- 
teresting hills. From these we suddenly passed into 
Wady Seeg,f one of the most romantic denies I ever 
saw ; lofty crags, almost perpendicular, tower on each 

in their way from Akabah to Hebron ; their visits have been short ; 
and entering by way of Mount Hor, they have been able to leave 
again before information of their arrival could reach the Sheikh.'* 
Dr. Robinson also states that " both the Alawin and Jehalin carry 
travellers to Wady Mousa; but they endeavour to avoid the notice 
of the neighbouring Arabs, and make their visits as short as possible ; 
feeling that they are doing that for which they may perhaps be 
called in question,"— the rights of entrance into the district not 
being exactly ascertained. This accounts for the anxiety of Sheikh 
Hussein to restrict our stay at Wady Mousa to an hour. See the 
B. Researches, vol. ii, pp. 542—548. Mr. Kinnear, I may remark, 
repeatedly observes that we were hurried away from Petra by Sheikh 
Hussein. My words may not have been sufficiently precise, but 
this was not the case — we were a whole day there, and more, and had 
amply satisfied our curiosity. Though apparently much afraid, the 
Sheikh was not in the least importunate in urging our departure, 
and in truth we were perhaps too self-confident. The sight of his 
anxiety, and the thought of the continued injury we should be doing 
to the corn of the fellaheen by prolonging our stay, were, I believe, 
more lively in our minds than any fear of opposition on his part or 
of aggression on that of the natives. [1847.] 

* Neither the narrative of Mr. Stephens, who took this road the 
year before us, nor that of Dr. Robinson, who passed a year after- 
wards, had then been published. [1847.] 

t El Syk. Robinson. [1847.] 



WADY SEEG. 



229 



side, deep fissures yawning in their breasts, tufted with 
evergreens, — and single isolated rocks guarding the 
pass like sentinels; the road winds through a thick 
wood of sedder, arrah,* oleander, and acacia-trees, 
besides others of which I know not the names — every 
shade of green ; the sky cloudless, but the valley was 
delightfully cool. We were twenty-two minutes in 
passing through this singular pass. 

We passed many ruins and excavations, both on this 
and on the other side of Petra, all uninteresting, ex- 
cept two small pyramids springing from the same base, 
sculptured on one of the rocks of Wady Seeg, to the 
left of the road ; a Greek inscription is cut slantingly 
on the base, but the party had ridden on, and Clarke 
and I had not time to decipher it.f 

All the scenery beyond Wady Seeg to the immediate 
neighbourhood of Wady Araba, towards which we were 
now steering westward, is very beautiful. The path, 
after entering Wady Nummula,J runs between vast 
broken rocks, and among trees of the most lovely ver- 
dure ; the rocks are in many places tufted with shrubs 
to their summits. Oleanders grow in some of the 
ravines in great abundance ; few of them, however, were 
in flower. 

* irar, juniper— the aroer of Jer. xlviii. 6, incorrectly translated 
" heath." Dr. Robinson, B. Researches, torn, i., 306. [1847.] 

t Dr. Robinson noticed this inscription, but describes it as " now 
illegible." B. Researches, vol. ii, 510. I think, however, that with 
time and better eyesight, I might have made it out. My rough 
note, the glance of a second, gives the following unintelligible 
letters : — 



TAITANTANMEMT3>OIIOY 
EPOYAH. 




230 



WADY ARABA. 



After refreshing ourselves at a spring, an hour and 
twenty-three minutes beyond Wady Seeg, we began 
crossing the ridges of Gebel Numraula, (as this part of 
Mount Seir is called,) — and in half an hour came in 
sight of Wady Araba in the distance. Presently we 
met two Alouins with donkeys, returning from Gaza, 
who informed us, on asking what news from below, that 
they had seen fresh tracks of a great number of horses 
and camels — they believed of the Jehaleens, of Kerek, 
bound for the south — they suspected, on an expedition 
against Sheikh Hussein's camp. The Sheikh and his 
men were cruelly alarmed at this news ; he shed tears 
in the evening, Missirie told me. At his request, we 
halted for that night at the foot of the last ridge which 
we had to cross before the great descent to Wady 
Araba. The Jehaleens, he said, would probably have 
passed by, on their return to Kerek, before we reached 
the plain in the morning. He seemed in great dread 
of meeting them, lest they should take his camels, and, 
perhaps, kill his people and himself. 

We commenced the descent of Gebel Nummula about 
six next morning, the noble expanse of Wady Araba 
stretching out below us, vague and indistinct, — just 
such a view as Turner would have stopped to sketch. 
The Sheikh went on before, leading his horse, anxiously 
watching the valley, and frequently entreating us to be 
ready with our fire-arms ; our guides, indeed, seemed 
to depend on us for the protection we had a right to 
expect from them. The path, a very difficult one, 
wound through deep ravines, intersecting the irregular 
barren ridges that descend in rapid succession, like 
giant steps, to Wady Araba. We halted about seven, 
at the opening of the ravines, to get out our pistols, 
load the guns with bullets, &c. The lower ridges of 
Mount Seir became, from this point, less and less pre- 



WADY ARABA. 



231 



cipitous, till they ended in low hillocks on the edge of 
the plain, like promontories jutting into the sea.* 

It took us about five hours to cross Wady Araba, 
during which we were continually on the look-out for 
the enemy, winding between undulating hills of drifted 
sand, and reconnoitring from hill to hill, as we advanced, 
creeping up and lying on our breasts, so as not to be 
visible from the other side. The reflected heat from 
the sand was intense, and, that everything might be 
in character, the tale they told us was a dismal one 
about the burial of Antar. If in the neighbourhood, 
the most likely place for the Jehaleens to be at was 
the well of El Uebe, where we wanted to water our own 
camels, and replenish our skins, already nearly ex- 
hausted. Climbing up a hill that commanded a view 
over the plain towards the well, (a green spot in the 
desert,) we ensconced ourselves in a hollow between the 
peak and a detached mass of rock, and reconnoitred it 
through the telescope ; no one seemed to be there, 
and we remounted, disguising our Frank dresses as 
much as possible by assuming the long Arab cloak or 
abba, so as not to be recognised from a distance. In 
a few minutes we came to the camels' tracks which had 
occasioned all this anxiety, and presently, drawing 
nearer to the well, two or three figures made their ap- 
pearance at it, which created a great stir among our 
Bedouins. The Sheikh rode direct to the well, and 
we charged up to the hills, to anticipate the enemy in 

* " To the north, a low chain of black hills runs into the Wady 
from Mount Seir apparently, forming a deep desert bay." Orig. 
Journal. These probably were the ridge subsequently ascertained 
to mark the point of partition of the waters, the highest ground be- 
tween the Dead Sea and Gulf of Akaba — disproving the idea recently 
held, that the Jordan originally discharged itself through the chan- 
nels of the Ghor and Wady Araba into the Red Sea. [1847. J 



232 



WADY ARABA. 



taking possession of a certain cave as a point of vantage, 
from which, said our guides, " you must fire and kill 
them all, or they will kill us." Presently, however, 
the Sheikh made signs that all was well, and, wheeling 
to the right, we rejoined him, and found that a few 
harmless shepherds from Gaza had occasioned all this 
commotion — which ended in our buying a sheep.* 

The shepherds, I am sorry to say, confirmed the ap- 
prehensions of the Alouins. The day after we left the 
Sheikh's camp, the Jehaleens attacked it, and carried 
off all his camels, seventy-five in number, and Sheikh 
Salem's mare, worth, we were told, ten thousand 
piastres. Salem pursued and overtook them, but was 
struck by a pistol-shot in the shoulder, and disabled. 
How little we thought t*hat the scene of happiness and 
peace we witnessed there would so soon be ruffled ! 

On leaving El Uebe,f (the water, by the bye, stank, 
and was full of worms,) — we entered the low barren 

* " The sheep was cooked at night. They made a rude oven of 
stones — filled it with wood which they hurnt to charcoal, and then 
placed the meat on the embers, covered it with the paunch of the 
sheep, and then covered the whole over with earth and sand, and left- 
it so till morning." Orig. Journal. [1847.] 

f This place is considered by Dr. Robinson, and apparently on 
solid grounds, to be the Kadesh Barnea of the Israelites, that central 
point in their history during the forty years of wandering in the 
wilderness. " We were much struck," says he, 44 with the entire 
adaptedness of its position to the Scriptural account of the proceed- 
ings of the Israelites, on their second arrival at Kadesh. (Num. xx.) 
There was at Kadesh a fountain, called also En-Mishpat, (Gen. xiv. 
7) ; this was then either partially dried up, or exhausted by the mul- 
titude ; so that 4 there was no water for the congregation.' By a 
miracle, water was brought forth abundantly out of the rock. 
Moses now sent messengers to the king of Edom, informing him 
that they were in 4 Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of his border 
and asking leave to pass through his country, so as to continue their 
course around Moab and approach Palestine from the east. This 
Edom refused ; and the Israelites accordingly marched to Mount 



CROSS THE DESERT TO HEBRON. 233 



ridges that skirt Wady Araba on the west, and, for 
several hours during this and the following day, tra- 
versed a country of the most utter desolation, hills 
succeeding hills, without the slightest picturesque 
beauty,* covered with loose flints, sand, and gravel ; 
sterility in its most repulsive garb ; — it made the very 
heart ache, and the spirits sink— and such is Edom 
now, " most desolate," as prophecy foretold it should 
be, at a time when literature and commerce, arts and 
sciences, were still flourishing in the land of Job, and 
the palm-trees of Idume were as proverbial in men's 
mouths as those of Palestine ; now, I believe, not one 
survives — at least, I saw none. 

At seven hours beyond El Uebe— four beyond our 
sleeping-place — we left the Gaza road, which we had 
hitherto followed, to the left, and, an hour afterwards, 
passing Ulmedurra, a large, singular-looking, isolated 
chalk hill — under which God crushed a village (so say 
the Bedouins) for its vicesf- — also to the left, we began 

Hor, where Aaron died ; and then along the Arabah to the Red 
Sea. (Numb. xx. 14 — 29.) Here at el-Weibeh, ill these scenes 
were before our eyes. Here was the fountain, even to this day the 
most frequented watering place in all the Arabah. On the N.W. is 
the mountain, by which the Israelites had formerly essayed to ascend 
to the land of Palestine, and were driven back. (Numb. xiv. 40—45 ; 
Deut. i. 41 — 46.) Over against us lay the land of Edom ; we were 
in its uttermost border ; and the great Wady el-Ghuweir, affording 
a direct and easy passage through the mountains to the table-land 
above, was directly before us ; while further in the south, Mount 
Hor formed a prominent and striking object, at the distance of two 
good days' journey for such a host." B. Researches, vol. ii, p. 582. 
[1847 ] 

* " The only occasional tree is the sayan, or sayal, a sort of acacia 
with most delicate diminutive leaves — the wood is excellent for char- 
coal." Orig. Journal [1847.] 

f " Two men of God came to the village, were ill-treated by the 
inhabitants, as at Sodom, and God crushed the village under this 
rock." Orig. Journal. [1847.] 



234 CROSS THE DESERT TO HEBRON. 

ascending the dreary ridges of Gebel Asufar the 
akiba, or principal slope, is a precipitous sheet of bare 
rock, alternately smooth and slippery, and covered 
with loose stones ; the ascent was very difficult, and 
took up an hour and a half ; from the top we had a very 
extensive but most desolate view over the western 
desert, to the left, and over Wady Araba, which here- 
abouts exchanges that name for El Ghor,to the right — 
with Mount Seir in the distance.f Beyond these hills, 
after a slight descent, we entered on an elevated plain 
called AtreibiJ — heavy sand, covered with the usual 
plants of the desert,— a garden in comparison with the 
waste we had recently traversed ; and, about three 
hours from the summit of Gebel Asufar, encamped in 
Wady Koumou, near the extensive ruins of an ancient 
walled town bearing the same name. We saw frag- 
ments of pillars lying about, but no inscriptions ; the 
town is, indeed, a mere heap of stones. We observed 
a large vaulted subterranean chamber near one ruined 
building, a small cell with a vaulted niche on the top of 
the hill, and a strong dam in a ravine to the south of 

* Es-Sufah. Robinson. [1847.] 

t " The name of this pass, es-Sufah (a rock), is in form identical 
with the Hebrew Zephath, called also Hormah ; which we know 
was the point where the Israelites attempted to ascend the mountain, 
so as to enter Palestine from Kadesh, but were driven back. (Judg. i. 
17; Numb. xiv. 45, xxi. 3; Deut. i. 44.) A city stood there in 
ancient times, one of the ' uttermost cities of Judah towards the 
coast of Edom southwards/ which was afterwards assigned to the 
tribe of Simeon. There is therefore every reason to suppose, that 
in the name of es-Sufah, we have a reminiscence of the ancient pass 
which must have existed here, and bore the name of the adjacent 
city Zephath. Of the name Hormah we could find no vestige." — 
JB. Researches, vol. ii, p. 592. [1847.] 

J El Turaibeh. Robinson. [1847.] 



CROSS THE DESERT TO HEBRON. 



235 



the town. Doctor Mac Lennan thinks that a lake 
existed to the north and west of it.* 

We crossed a great many ancient walls, and saw 
many vestiges of ruins the next morning ;f the country, 
henceforward, assumed the appearance of a down 
rather than a desert, being thickly covered with grass 
and shrubs. 

At a place called El Melek,J in the very extensive 
plain El Foura— nearly six hours beyond the ruined 
town of Kournou, and two beyond the dry bed of a 
small stream called El Gerara— (the brook of Gerar ?)§ 
— we were surprised at finding two large and deep wells, 
beautifully built of hewn stone, — the uppermost course, 
and about a d'ozen troughs for watering cattle disposed 
round them, of a coarse white marble ; they were evi- 

* In the earlier editions of these " Letters," I represented this 
place as Elusa, the first Roman town on the great road from Jeru- 
salem to Aila. 44 Elusa," I said, 44 is marked in the Tabula Peutin- 
geriana as seventy-one miles distant from Jerusalem, and we found 
the distance between Kournou and Jerusalem twenty- three hours 
and a half — in other words, seventy miles and a half — a very close 
approximation." Dr. Robertson has, however, fixed Elusa at El 
Khulaseh, more to the west, and the Thamara of Ptolemy, and Tha- 
mar of the Old Testament, at Wady Kournou, or as he writes it, 
doubtless correctly, Kournub. This latter place he saw from a dis- 
tance with his telescope, but did not visit, having taken a more 
northerly road. [1847.] 

f 44 In about an hour and twenty minutes from Kournou, pass 
over the ruins of many ancient walls, running transversely across 
the road, and vestiges of ruins on the left, perhaps of one of the 
Roman stations. Saw no wells, and there is said to be no water 
hereabouts — the place is called Gubbat el Bolani. . . . More 
ruins to the right and left thirty-seven minutes afterwards." Orig. 
Journal. [1847.] 

J The El Milh of Dr. Robinson, who identifies it with Moladah, 
the Malatha of the Greeks and Romans. B. Researches^ vol. ii, 621. 
[1847.] 

§ Wady Ararah. Robinson. [1847.] 



236 



CROSS THE DESERT TO HEBRON. 



dently coeval with the Romans. Quite a patriarchal 
scene presented itself as we drew near to the wells ; 
the Bedouins were watering their flocks, — two men at 
each well letting down the skins, and pulling them up 
again with almost ferocious haste, and with quick, savage 
shouts, — and then emptying them into the troughs ; the 
shepherdesses stood aloof, and veiled their faces, seeing 
the strange howagis. The several flocks, coming up 
and retiring in the exactest order, were a beautiful sight. 

Crossing Gebel ul Gheretain, a range of stony hills 
beyond El Foura, numerous ruined garden-walls and 
terraces warned us of our approach to, if not entry 
into, Judea. As we proceeded, first here, then there, 
we observed patches of ground reclaimed from the 
desert, and carefully cultivated, and, ere long, the whole 
valley below us was green with corn, field descending 
below field, divided by regular terraces. 

Five hours from El Melek we arrived at the village 
of Simoa, or Simoo, to whose inhabitants these fields 
belong ; the hill above the village is crowned by a 
ruined castle, which shows imposingly from a distance, 
though poorly on a nearer inspection. We encamped 
in the valley below it; and presently the Sheikh ul 
belled, or head-man of the village, and a party of the 
townsmen, made their appearance, and sat down with 
us, contrasting most unfavourably with our Bedouins, 
who seemed to hold them in utter contempt. An air of 
oppression and slavery hangs indeed over all the vil- 
lage Arabs. We found these people unacquainted with 
any denomination of coin, except the nine-piastre piece 
and the old currency. This place I take to be the 
ancient Shema, enumerated in the book of Numbers 
among the cities of the hill-country of Judah.* 

* Dr. Robinson identifies it with Eshtemoa. B. Researches, 
vol. ii, pp. 194, 627. [1847.] 



APPROACH TO HEBKON. 237 

I asked one of the natives if there were many ancient 
sites in the neighbourhood ; he said Yes — and men- 
tioned one, Daharieh,* to the west ; but, on my writing 
it down, refused to name any more. I could hear 
nothing of Beer Sheba ; but in the morning, crossing 
the plain El Foura, they named a village, Asseeba, to 
the left, which sounds like it. ( 28 )t 

We were now fairly in the Land of Promise, de- 
scribed by the spies (who must have entered it nearly 
by the same road as ourselves) as a land flowing with 
milk and honey, — we had cow's milk, that night, to our 
tea, the first we had tasted for many weeks ; the cows 
that yielded it, a very pretty but diminutive breed, 
were the first we had seen since visiting Memphis. 

We started next morning at 25 m. p. 5, Sunday the 
30th of April, riding through fields of corn between the 
rounded hills of Judea, covered to their tops with 
bushes of the prickly oak, a most beautiful shrub ; the 
day was lovely, the birds were singing their matins 

* Dhoheriyeh. Robinson. [1847.] 

*(• It was Beersheba,- — we strained our eyes, but were not worthy 
enough to discern it. Dr. Robinson discovered it the year after- 
■ wards, having taken a more westerly route to Hebron. There is no 
village apparently, but " two deep wells, still called Bir es-Seba . . • 
These wells are some distance apart ; they are circular, and stoned 
up very neatly with solid masonry, apparently much more ancient 
than that of the wells at Abdeh. The larger one is twelve and a 
half feet in diameter, and forty-four and a half feet deep to the sur- 
face of the water ; sixteen feet of which at the bottom is excavated 
in the solid rock. The other well lies fifty-five rods W.S.W., and 
is five feet in diameter, and forty -two feet deep. The water in both 
is pure and sweet, and in great abundance ; the finest indeed we 
had found since leaving Sinai. Both wells are surrounded with 
drinking-troughs of stone for camels and flocks, such as were doubt- 
less used of old for the flocks which then fed on the adjacent hills. 
The curb-stones were deeply worn by the friction of the ropes in 
drawing up water by hand." B. Researches, i, p. 300. — There are 
ruins of the ancient town on the hills hard by. [1847.] 



238 



HEBRON. 



most sweetly, no work was going on, — it was the still- 
ness and repose of a Sabbath morning in England. 

We saw the first olive-trees about an hour and 
twenty minutes before arriving at Hebron, descending 
into and following the course of a long and broad wind- 
ing valley, (once, doubtless, the pasturage of Abra- 
ham's flocks and herds,) till, at a turn of the road, 
Hebron stood before us, that Hebron so memorable in 
sacred story as the home of Abraham, and the capital 
of David before his conquest of Jerusalem. The Arabs 
still call it after their patriarch, " El Khalil Ibrahim"— 
" Abraham the Friend"— of God. ( 29 ) It is beautifully 
situated at the foot, and on the slope, of a hill, — a city 
after the mud-villages of Egypt. The large white 
mosque, containing the tombs of the patriarchs, which 
no Christian is allowed to enter, rises prominently to 
the west of the town. To the left, as we entered, we 
passed a large and well-built tank, with two flights of 
steps descending into it at the opposite angles, possibly 
the " pool of Hebron " (repaired) where David hanged 
the murderers of Ishbosheth. 

After establishing our baggage in two large recesses 
under the gate of the Governor's house, settling with 
the Sheikh, (our caravan breaking up here,) and engag- 
ing camels for Jerusalem, we visited the bazaars, which 
are substantially built, like the rest of the town, of hewn 
stone, and well stocked. Hebron is, apparently, an 
improving place. The children called us pigs, as we 
entered; otherwise, we received no incivility, — the 
contrary rather; our arrival from the south seemed to 
excite both interest and respect among the people, who 
hailed us as Hadjis or pilgrims bound for " the Holy 
City," as Jerusalem is still called in Arabic, — el Koddes 
— the Hebrew Kadushah, — it was from the Chaldaic 



APPROACH TO BETHLEHEM. 



239 



form of this word, Kadutha, that the Greek name of 
Jerusalem was derived — Cadytis. We saw many 
Jewish faces, Hebron being one of the four sacred cities 
of the Talmud. 

We started again at noon, following the ancient 
road, along the brae-side, and between corn-fields, 
olive-groves, and vineyards — each with its watch-tower, 
the stones carefully gathered out, and fenced in with a 
stone wall — as in the days of David, Isaiah, and our 
Saviour. At two, we stopped at a place called Derr- 
wuh, evidently an ancient site, and continued for some 
hours winding among hills, presenting the same mono- 
tonous but pleasing scenery. It was a lovely evening, 
the birds were singing sweetly, and numerous flocks of 
sheep and goats were cropping their evening meal, as 
we drew nigh to the city of David, who so often must 
have fed his flocks on those very hills,— the scene, too, 
just as probably, of that apparition of the heavenly 
host who proclaimed to the humble shepherds of Beth- 
lehem the birth of the good shepherd, David's name- 
sake, " The Beloved" of God — in those blessed words, 
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will towards men." 

About an hour and a quarter to the south of Bethle- 
hem, coming to the brow of the hill, we saw the cele- 
brated pools of Solomon below us, and a beautiful 
crop of wheat covering the slopes of the valley where 
probably once stood his palace and pleasure-gardens. 
These reservoirs are really worthy of Solomon. I had 
formed no conception of their magnificence ; they are 
three in number, the smallest near four hundred feet in 
length; the waters were discharged from one into 
another, and conveyed from the lowest, by an aqueduct 
to Jerusalem. I descended into the third and largest ; 



240 



BETHLEHEM. 



it is lined with plaster, like the Indian chunam, and 
hanging terraces run all round it. I wonder if Solomon 
ever walked there with the queen of Sheba. 

At half-past seven, that evening, we reached Bethle- 
hem. ( 30 ) It stands on the slope of a hill, of difficult 
ascent, at least by night. The stars were out, but it 
w r as still unusually light as we entered the town, and 
proceeded to the Spanish Convent, a large fortress- 
like building, where we were kindly welcomed, and 
ushered into a very handsome apartment. The vener- 
able Superior presently came to see us, and grew very 
talkative. He honoured us with his company to break- 
fast the next morning, and we afterwards visited the 
church and the supposed Cave of the Nativity, all most 
gorgeous,— but what most touched me was the simple 
tribute of several little children, who, speaking in a 
whisper, and with awe in their faces, lighted their little 
bodkins of tapers at the large candles, and stuck them 
at their side. The solemn chanting, the procession of 
the dark-robed monks, the confessionals — with all the 
pageantry I had been familiar with in Italy — so strangely 
blending with the turbans and oriental costume of the 
Armenian, Arab, and Greek Christians — one might have 
fancied that the east and the west had met by common 
consent, to worship the star of Israel at its rising; but, 
alas ! it was St. Mark's worship they were celebrating 
that morning, and the prostrations I witnessed on the 
spot said to have been knelt upon by the Magi were to 
the Virgin Mary,— not to her Saviour. 

We mounted for Jerusalem about eight — a lovely 
cloudless morning. As we were starting from the Con- 
vent walls, a marriage party came past, or rather a 
crowd of women and children, some of them very 
pretty, all gaily dressed and unveiled, and singing a 
most discordant epithalamium — to meet the bride at the 



MARRIAGE PARTY. 



241 



church door, and convey her home. While they awaited 
her appearance, two parties detached themselves from 
the throng, the one dancing round and round, hand in 
hand — as in some unsophisticated nooks of merry Eng- 
land they were probably doing at that very moment 
round the Maypole, for it was May-morning — the other, 
their arms linked, advancing towards them and retreat- 
ing in regular measure, the song going on all the time. 
Presently the bride came out, veiled from head to foot, 
and mounted her horse; her companions closed round 
her, and the procession moved on. We sat on our 
camels enjoying the scene, and expended not a little 
gunpowder in her honour; to her death she will re- 
member the nuptial honours paid her by the English. 

You can scarcely imagine what a cheerful aspect the 
rich and varied costumes both of men and women, par- 
ticularly the latter, impart to these towns of Palestine ; 
the contrast is delightful to us, so long accustomed to 
the dull blue cloaks and veiled faces of the Egyptian 
women. 

Riding slowly on to Jerusalem, we met numbers of 
most picturesque-looking white-bearded old men, and 
many lovely children. One of them, particularly, a 
Russian boy, taking off his far cap, to return our salu- 
tation, with his flowing ringlets and sweet face, re- 
minded me of Raphael's angels. We met many parties 
too of Turks, Armenians, and Greeks, pilgrimizing— 
the former to Rachel's tomb, the latter to Bethlehem. 
Some saluted us with ' Bon viaggio' and ' Benvenuti, 
Signori ! ' others with the emphatic 6 Salam,' 6 Peace ! ' 
or by simply laying the hand on the heart in the graceful 
oriental fashion. It was delightful thus to be welcomed 
to the City of Peace by men of all creeds and countries, 
a sort of anticipation of the happy time when all nations 
will go up to worship One God at Jerusalem, and all 

B 



242 



Rachel's tomb. 



will receive the welcome of the heart as well as the 

up. 

The view looking back on Bethlehem, as you ascend 
the Northern hills, is exceedingly beautiful ; to the east 
it is bounded by the long unbroken ridge of the moun- 
tains of Moab, hemming in the Dead Sea, which seems 
much nearer than it really is. The road winds, at first, 
between olive and fig gardens, but they soon give way 
to a succession of stony hills; in forty minutes, we 
passed a dilapidated Turkish tomb, called Rachel's,— 
" c As for me,' " said dying Jacob, " 6 Rachel died by 
me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there 
was but a little way to come unto Ephrath ; and I 
buried her there in the way to Ephrath' — the same is 
Bethlehem," — in all probability, it marks the spot of her 
death; there are many Turkish graves around it. Soon 
afterwards, we passed the Greek Convent of Mar E lias, 
and came in sight of Jerusalem ! Approaching nearer, 
and descending towards Mount Zion, the situation fully 
answered my expectations ; the view from this point, em- 
bracing the Sacred Hill, the valley of Hinnom, the 
Mount of Olives, and the Dead Sea, is at once magnifi- 
cent and beautiful, independent of the associations that 
render it the most interesting to be seen on earth, ex- 
cept perhaps that from the Mount of Olives, where Our 
Saviour wept over Jerusalem. 

We proceeded along the western hills, and entering 
by the gate of Bethlehem, presently alighted at the 
Latin Convent, where we are now most comfortably 
established. 

Adieu, my dear mother. 



JERUSALEM. 



243 



LETTER IV. 

Sect. I. — Jerusalem. Excursion to Jericho and the Dead Sea. — 
Journey to Tiberias by ISTablous, Samaria, Acre, Nazareth, and 
Mount Tabor. 

Sect. II. — Journey, East of the Jordan, by El Hussn, Om Keis, 
Jerash, Ammon, Bostra, and through the Hauran, to Damascus. 

Sect. III. — Visit to Palmyra. 

Sect. IV. — Journev into Mount Lebanon, and return to Damascus, 

Section I. 

Damascus, July, 1837. 

My dear Mother^ 

I sit down to redeem my promise of giving you 
some account of my journeyings since arriving at 
Jerusalem. 

Of Jerusalem I have but little to say ; we took no 
cicerones. There is no mistaking the principal features 
of the scenery ; Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, the Valley 
of Jehoshaphat, down which the brook Kedron still flows 
during the rainy season, and the Mount of Olives, are 
recognised at once ; the Arab village Siloan represents 
Siloam, and the waters of Siloa still flow "fast by the 
oracle of God." A grove of eight magnificent and veiy 
ancient olive-trees at the foot of the Mount, and near 
the bridge over the Kedron, is pointed out as the gar- 
den of Gethsemane ; occupying the very spot one's eyes 
would turn to, looking up from the page of Scripture. — 
It was the only monkish tradition I listened to. Through- 
out the Holy Land we tried every spot pointed out as 
the scene of Scriptural events by the words of the Bible, 
the only safe guide-book in this land of ignorance and 
superstition, where a locality has been assigned to every 

r2 



244 



MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



incident recorded in it— to the spot where the cock crew 
at St. Peter's denial of our Saviour, nay, to the house 
of Dives in the parable. Yet, while I question the 
truth, I would not impugn the poetry of some of these 
traditions, or deny that they add a peculiar and most 
thrilling interest to the scenes to which they are at- 
tached — loca sancta indeed, when we think of them as 
shrines hallowed by the pilgrimages and the prayers of 
ages. 

There is no spot (you will not now wonder at my 
saying so) at, or near, Jerusalem, half so interesting 
as the Mount of Olives, and, on the other hand, from 
no other point is Jerusalem seen to such advantage. 
Oh ! what a relief it was to quit its narrow, filthy, ill- 
paved streets for that lovely hill, climbing it by the 
same rocky path our Saviour and his faithful few so 
often trod, and resting on its brow as they did, when 
their divine instructor, looking down on Jerusalem in 
her glory, uttered those memorable prophecies of her 
fall, of his second Advent, and of the final Judgment, 
which we should ever brood over in our hearts as a 
warning voice, bidding us watch and be ready for his 
coming ! Viewed from the Mount of Olives, like Cairo 
from the hills on the edge of the Eastern desert, Jeru- 
salem is still a lovely, a majestic object; but her beauty 
is external only, and, like the bitter apples of Sodom, 
she is found full of rottenness within, — 

" In Earth's dark circlet once the precious gem 
Of Living Light — Oh, fallen Jerusalem !" 

But her king, in his own good time, will raise her from 
the dust. 

Nor is there, thank God ! any doubt about Bethany, 
the home of that happy family, so peculiarly our Lord's 
friends during his latter years, his own home, indeed, 



BETHANY. 



245 



during his last visit to Jerusalem. It is a sweet retired 
spot, beautifully situated on the slope of a hill to the 
south of Mount Olivet. The path to Jerusalem winds 
round the Mount, and through the Vale of Jehoshaphat, 
precisely, to all appearance, as it did when the Messiah 
rode thither in regal but humble triumph, and the people 
strewed their garments and branches in the way. They 
show you the supposed tomb of Lazarus, an excavation 
in the rock, to which you descend by many steps. It 
lies to the west of the town, and cannot therefore, I 
think, be the spot. When Mary rose up hastily and 
went out to meet our Saviour coming from Jericho, the 
Jews thought she was going to the grave to weep there; 
the sepulchre must therefore have been to the east of 
the city, and in fact I saw two or three ancient tombs 
by the wayside in that direction, one of which may have 
been Lazarus's. 

The road to Jericho, beyond Bethany, runs between 
bleak stony mountains, dreariness itself, a fit scene 
for our Lord's parable of the good Samaritan. We 
emerged from them into the valley of the Jordan, about 
six hours from Jerusalem, and presently passed a sin- 
gular-looking tumulus, and many remains of walls, a 
fragment or two of a column, &c, the ruins, I presume, 
taken by Mr. Buckingham for those of Jericho ; there 
has certainly been a city there, and the position agrees 
with Josephus's description much more than that of 
BAha, the miserable village commonly supposed to re- 
present it, and which we reached soon after passing a 
clear and sparkling stream that springs from the Dia- 
mond of the Desert — the scene of Sir Kenneth's ren- 
contre with Saladin, and — thought of far deeper interest, 
the fountain sweetened by Elisha. I saw one palm-tree 
at Riha — one only ; the balsam-plants have been extinct 
for ages. 



246 



JERICHO. 



The guides led us to an old tower, the same, I take 
it, as that called by the old pilgrims the House of Zac- 
cheus — now the residence of a petty military Governor; 
they wanted to make us sleep there, saying there were 
so many thieves abroad that it was dangerous to pitch 
at the river, and refusing to proceed further without a 
guard.* Long used to Arab humbug, we laughed at 
them, and rode on by ourselves across a broad, arid, 
sloping plain — the plain of Gilgal ! The heat, tempered 
by pleasant breezes, was by no means so great as we 
expected ; it is generally extremely oppressive through- 
out the valley of the Jordan. 

Nine hours after leaving Jerusalem, we reached the 
banks of the river, concealed, till you are close upon it, 
by dense thickets of trees, reeds and bushes, " the pride 
of Jordan," growing luxuriantly to the very edge of the 
water. The lions, hippopotami, &c, that formerly 
haunted these thickets, are extinct; wild boars are still 
found there. The Jordan flows very swiftly, indeed in 
a perceptible rapid below the open space on which we 
encamped ; the water is sweet and good ; the upper bed 
was still moist from the floods. We had pitched the 
tents, picketed the horses, &c, when the guides came 
up, silent and crestfallen ; we took no notice of them. 
It was a sweet evening, and a most beautiful, cool, star- 
light night, the river murmuring along, and the night- 
ingales singing from the trees. I walked on the bank 
till the crescent moon set ; all was loveliness and 
delight, f 

* The district has a had reputation at all times ; but I believe 
there was little hazard then. A year afterwards Dr. Kobinson found 
it expedient to make a bargain with a Sheikh of the Taamirah Be- 
douins, a tribe living near the Dead Sea, for escort and protection. 
[1847.] 

f " About nine o'clock a great fire was lighted on the hills on our 
side the river, which, after blazing about ten minutes, went out. It 



DEAD SEA, 



247 



An hour's ride, next morning, over a sandy barren 
plain, intersected by slimy bogs, (a few gazelles bound- 
ing over the sand-hills were the only living creatures 
we saw there,) brought us to the silent shore of the 
Dead Sea, a grand spectacle ; the lake lay perfectly 
still, save a gentle ripple ; its waters tolerably transpa- 
rent, but salt and bitter beyond bitterness. My compa- 
nions bathed — I had not courage to do so ; they found 
the water as buoyant as travellers have asserted, float- 
ing like corks, swimming with their hands only, &c, — ■ 
no one dared to duck his head. Wood, all encrusted 
with salt, lies in great quantities on the shore, and we 
picked up many small pieces of bitumen. The Arabs 
call the lake Bahr Lout, or the sea of Lot ; and the city 
of refuge, Zoar, at the south-western extremity, still re- 
tains its ancient name. To an unscientific eye the 
lake has not the slightest appearance of volcanic forma- 
tion ; instead of displaying relics of a crater, the 
mountains, between which it lies, run north and south, 
in parallel lines, anci at equal distances, to the Sea of 
Galilee and the Gulf of Akaba. ( 3l ) Mr. Moore, a sci- 
entific gentleman, who was very courteous to us at 
Jerusalem, was then surveying the lake, but has since, 
through the opposition, I believe, of the Government, 
been obliged to relinquish his interesting undertaking'. 

Wishing to visit the convent of San Saba, we struck 
in that direction into the barren and cavernous hills of 
Judea, following nearly the route of Sir Kenneth and 
Saladin in the Talisman; the scenery was dreary in 
the extreme, but sometimes very grand, particularly 
looking back on the Ghor, or Valley of the Jordan. 
The guides loitering behind us, we at last lost our way, 

occurred to us that it might possibly be a signal to the robbers spoken 
of on the Eastern bank, from their confederates on ours — but no- 
thing disturbed us during the night." — Orig. Journal. [1847.] 



248 



HILLS OF JUDAH. 



and wandered among the hills for some hours, without 
knowing whither we were going, and without seeing a 
soul. The curse has indeed fallen on the land of 
Judah; I never, except in the very desert, saw such 
dreariness as during these two days. We thirsted for 
water, but found none ; once we came to a reservoir of 
rain water, but it was absolutely undrinkable ; we have 
drunk water that stank so that we could not keep it in 
the tent with us, so you may imagine how bad this was. 
Another time we passed an ancient well, its mouth 
sealed with a large stone, with a hole in the centre, 
through which we threw a pebble in — but there was no 
water, and we should have been sorry had there been 
any, for our united strength could not have removed 
the seal; I wonder how many centuries it has lain 
there ! * 

At last we espied the guides and Clarke's servant 
Hassan on a distant hill, and, cutting across the 
country in that direction, reached the beaten road ; we 
were momentarily in expectation of reaching San Saba, 
when, coming to a fountain, (welcome object !) I reco- 
gnised it as the one we had passed the day before, 
within an hour after leaving Bethany, — the " fountain 
of the Apostles" it is called — and doubtless they often 
quenched their thirst at it, and He too, who became 
man, and hungered and thirsted for our sake ! Why 
might it not have been there, resting before the ascent 
to Bethany, that " Jesus said unto them plainly, Laza- 
rus is dead !" Be this as it may, never were we more 
agreeably surprised, for we had wished all along to 
reach Jerusalem that night, and had been in doubts 
whether we should find any water at all ; of course we 

* See Gen. xxix. 2, 3, and Sol. Song, iv. 12. — " Near this well are 
the remains of an ancient town and a ruin in a valley." — Orig. 
Journal [1847.] 



QUIT JERUSALEM. 



249 



thought no more of San Saba, but rode on and reached 
Jerusalem shortly after sunset, after a good eleven 
hours' ride, which, notwithstanding our mishaps, we 
enjoyed exceedingly.( 32 ) 

Three days afterwards, Thursday the 1 1th of May, 
we bade adieu to Jerusalem, still in company with 
Dr. Mac Lennan and Clarke, the kind and agreeable 
associates of our whole tour from Mount Sinai to Da- 
mascus. It was our intention, after exploring Pales- 
tine, (properly so called,) to cross the Jordan, and visit 
Jerash ; Mr. Moore, an enthusiast in architectural anti- 
quities, confirmed us in this resolution by his praise of 
the ruins, and strongly recommended us to extend our 
tour to the Hauran, or ancient Auranitis, part of the 
Idumea or Arabia Provincia of the Romans, (whither 
St. Paul retired after his conversion,) and where we 
should see more interesting specimens of Roman do- 
mestic architecture than existed even at Pompeii. He 
gave us a route through the country, to which I added 
copious extracts from Burckhardt, the first traveller 
who gave anything like a full account of that region. 
He is indeed a model for travellers, so accurate and 
precise — I wish only he were a little more enthusiastic. 
But he is such a thorough gentleman — his feelings are 
all so good and honourable — his conduct towards his 
employers so conscientious, — he is so cheerful, so un- 
complaining under hardship and privation, that one 
cannot but love him — one cannot but regret that he 
will never be so extensively known as he deserves to 
be.( 33 ) 

All things being ready, as aforesaid, we started, — 
five horses for ourselves, ten mules for the servants and 
baggage, three or four muleteers, and two black slaves 
of theirs. We were most fortunate in our muleteers, 
cheerful, active, willing fellows ; we never had a mo- 



250 



DEPARTURE. 



mentfs trouble with them. One of them, distinguished 
by his green turban, was a Said, or Shereef, that is, a 
descendant of Mahomet ; the head muleteer had much 
of the appearance, and evidently aspired to the cha- 
racter, of Punch, and soon answered to his name, as 
the " Snowballs" did to theirs, as if he had never been 
called by any other. We took no guard — for Palestine 
it is quite needless, and, from what Mr. Moore said, and 
our own Arab experience, we judged it equally unne- 
cessary for the regions east of the Jordan. Mr. Moore 
had one when he travelled there, but intended dis- 
pensing with it on his next visit. The terror of Ibra- 
him Pasha is now the traveller's safeguard throughout 
these regions, so difficult of access till within the last 
two or three years.* 

Everything went to our satisfaction on this journey. 
We rode generally about eight or nine hours, or from 
thirty to forty miles a day, never exceeding a quick 
walk, the usual travelling pace ; starting with the sun, 
halting at mid- day for two or three hours during the 
heat, and then proceeding till sunset. The w T eather 
throughout was delightful, seldom excessively hot even 
at noon, while the mornings, afternoons, and evenings, 
were delicious indeed. We followed the harvest the 
whole way ; the corn was yellow at Nablous ; we found 
reapers at work the day afterwards, and camels were 
bringing in the last crops, and gleaners busy in the 
fields, as we drew nigh to Damascus. I preserved my 

* The year 1837 was the last of these years of security. In 
1838, disturbances were already so rife, that Dr. Robinson and his 
friend were unable to visit even Mount Lebanon and Damascus — re- 
served, we must hope, for their exploration and illustration, as well 
as the district east of the Jordan, at some future day. They found 
Palestine, in Dr. Robinson's words, " a land of wars and rumours of 
wars." [1847.] 



JOURNEY TO DAMASCUS. 



251 



health and spirits the whole time, thank God ! One 
night excepted, we slept invariably in our tent, and 
never had a difference of opinion with the friends who 
shared it; they were as anxious to see what was to be 
seen as we were, and most pleasant companions we 
found them. In short, we saw more than we proj)osed 
at starting, yet arrived at Damascus a day sooner than 
we calculated, on leaving Jerusalem. Alas ! alas ! 
what a melancholy thread must henceforward be inter- 
woven with these reminiscences ! 

All Judea, except the hills of Hebron and the vales 
immediately about Jerusalem, is desolate and barren, 
but the prospect brightens as soon as you quit it, and 
Samaria and Galilee still smile like the Land of 
Promise.* The road from Jerusalem northward is, at 
first, extremely ugly— hilly and stony. At some dis- 
tance to the left, as you leave the city, rises the hill of 
Samuele, supposed to be the ancient Rama ; that 

* Many, I believe, entertain the idea that an actual curse rests on 
the soil of Palestine, and may be startled therefore at the testimony 
I have borne to its actual richness. No other curse, I conceive, 
rests upon it, than that induced by the removal of the ancient in- 
habitants, and the will of the Almighty that the modern occupants 
should never be so numerous as to invalidate the prophecy that the 
land should enjoy her Sabbaths so long as the rightful heirs remain 
in the land of their enemies. Let me not be misunderstood, — 
richly as the valleys wave with corn, and beautiful as is the general 
aspect of modern Palestine, vestiges of the far more extensive ancient 
cultivation are everywhere visible — waste and unreclaimed districts 
constantly intervene between the Oases of fertility — while, except 
immediately round the villages, the hills, once terraced and crowned 
with olive-trees and vines, are uniformly bare or overgrown wdth 
wild shrubs and hWers ; proofs far more than sufficient that the 
land still enjoys her Sabbaths, and only waits the return of her 
banished children, and the application of industry commensurate 
with her agricultural capabilities, to burst once more into universal 
luxuriance, and be all that she ever was in the days of Solomon. 



252 ANABROOT. 

name, however, was given by Punch to some ruins on 
a hill to the right, at two hours from Jerusalem. I can- 
not express to you my delight and surprise when he 
uttered the word with the full intonation of his Arab 
lungs ; it startled me like the firing of a pistol, — but 
the Arabs have, in instances innumerable, retained the 
Scriptural names of places, — and no wonder, for, both 
by blood and language, they are Hebrews. At three 
hours and a half from Jerusalem, we encamped at Beer, 
or Beeri, as the Arabs pronounced it — supposed to be 
Michmash, but is it not rather Beeroth ? * This is 
generally, and I think with probability, considered to 
be the place where the caravan halted, returning from 
Jerusalem, and Joseph and Mary missed our Saviour. 
Two hours beyond it, next morning, and near the vil- 
lage Anabroot, we entered on some of the loveliest 
scenery I ever beheld, olive and fig gardens, vineyards 
and corn-fields, overspreading the valleys, and terraced 
on the hills — alternating with waste ground overgrown 
with the beautiful prickly oak, and lovely wild flowers. 
One rocky vale struck us as particularly beautiful. — 
We were in the neighbourhood of Bethel ; I anxiously 
inquired for it of the Arabs, but in vain ; I did not then 
remember the prophecy, " Seek not Bethel, — Bethel 
shall come to naught ! " In fact, not a trace, not even 
a tradition, remains of its existence.f 

* Dr. Robinson thinks the same. — B. Researches, vol. ii, p. 132. 
[1847.] 

f Dr. Robinson, however, has discovered it at Beitin, three hours 
and forty minutes from Jerusalem, passing through El Bireh. " The 
Arabic termination en for the Hebrew el is not an unusual change." 
— B. Researches, vol. ii, p. 128. The reader is probably aware that 
Dr. Robinson's researches into the popular topography of Palestine 
have been rewarded by the discovery of numberless towns and places 
mentioned in Scripture, the ancient names of which have been faith- 
fully handed down by tradition. Mr. Eli Smith has been his able 
coadjutor in these researches. [1847.] 



VALE OF LEBONAH. 



253 



I took notes of all the distances on this journey, and 
of all the villages we passed; few figure on the maps 
comparatively with the hundreds that exist in Palestine. 
They are not, however, thickly inhabited, and the con- 
dition of the peasants is most miserable ; the country 
was teeming with the richest crops when we passed 
through it, but the enlightened government of Mahom- 
med Ali precludes their profiting by the bounty of 
nature, and the conscription, as in Egypt, has so 
drained the villages of men, that more than once, and 
in the most out-of-the-way parts of the country, none 
of the peasants would act as guides, for fear of being 
impressed for soldiers. 

After following the beautiful valley of Leban, (old 
Lebonah,) which we entered about eight hours and a 
half from Jerusalem, for rather more than three hours, 
it expanded into a magnificent plain waving with corn 
— the parcel of ground, there can be no doubt, which 
Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and the gathering-place, 
in every age of their history, of the clans of Israel ; we 
saw camels and cattle winding their way through the 
corn-fields far below us. Turning up a valley to the 
west, between the hills of Gerizim and Ebal, (on which 
the tribes stood in two divisions, when the book of the 
law, the blessings and curses, and the astonishing pro- 
phecies of Moses, were read to them by Joshua, " and 
all the people cried Amen !")— we reached Xablous, 
the ancient Sichem or Sychar, built at the foot and on 
the lowest slope of Gerizim, and embowered in groves 
of the richest verdure — figs, mulberries, olives — one 
solitary palm-tree towering over them, and hedges of 
the prickly pear, with its fantastic boughs and yellow 
blossoms, guarding every plantation. It was a sweet 
evening, the thrushes were singing merrily, and every- 
thing smiled around us. Nablous was far too lovely — 



254 SAMARIA. 

it would have been disenchantment to enter it — we 
rode round the town, and encamped beyond it under 
the olive-trees. A remnant of the Samaritans, about 
one hundred, still live there, and, at certain seasons, 
still go up and worship on Gerizim.* 

Two hours' ride, the following morning, through 
mule tracks over the rocks, worn deep by the feet of 
centuries, took us to Subusta, the ancient Samaria, 
named by Herod Sebaste, in honour of Augustus ; this 
and Nablous (Neapolis) are singular instances of the 
Arabs' having adopted the Greek, and forgotten the 
original Hebrew names. Samaria stood on an oval 
hill, stretching east and west, and separated from the 
hills that encircle it by a very deep valley. The 
miserable modern village is chiefly built of the remains 
of the ancient city. Our guide, a regular village an- 
tiquary, led us first along the southern side of the hill, 
planted with olives and fig-trees, through and alongside 
of the remains of a handsome colonnade, Herod's work 
probably, running east and west ; near the town, the 
pillars are mostly overthrown ; some have rolled off 
the terrace on which they stood — others are scarcely 
perceptible above the ground ; numbers, however, at 
the west end, retain their upright position, though 
without their capitals. The colonnade ends, at the ex- 
tremity of the hill, in an open space between two mounds 

* For much interesting information about the modern Samaritans, 
see De Sacy's " Correspondance des Samaritains deNaplouse, pendant 
les annees 1808 et suiv.,"— -(Notices des MSS. de la Bibliotheque du 
Roi, Sfc. torn. 12), and Dr. Jowett's " Christian Researches in Syria 
and the Holy Land," pp. 195, sqq. — I have unaccountably omitted 
to mention Jacob's well and Joseph's tomb, which one passes before 
arriving at Nablous, each probably the identical spot, pointed out 
from father to son by unbroken tradition. The interview of our 
Saviour with the woman of Samaria will recur to the mind of every 
one. [1847.] 



ELLAR. 



255 



of ruins, overgrown with grass — the ancient gate, ac- 
cording to our village oracle, of Samaria, and the two 
forts that defended it.* We returned by the north 
side of the hill, for the most part through fig, as on the 
southern through olive-trees ; there are the remains of 
many fine pillars in a grove of fig-trees on the highest 
of the broad terraces into which the hill has been cut ; 
and in the plain below are several more, forming two 
sides of a quadrangle. I have seldom been so forcibly 
struck with the fulfilment of prophecy as when walking 
over the hill of Samaria. An old ruined church, of 
singular and richly ornamented architecture, (the choir 
exhibiting round arches, supported by heavy Corinthian 
columns — the arches near the entrance pointed,) hangs 
picturesquely on the edge of the hill below the modern 
village. 

Beyond Samaria, we struck across country towards 
Mount Carmel, by a route undescribed, so far as I am 
aware, by any traveller. We soon lost our way, but 
that was of little consequence, for the countrv is full 
of villages, well cultivated, and quite beautiful. We 
halted at noon in a grove of noble olive-trees, swarm- 
ing with little green leaf-hoppers — if I may call them 
so — shaped like frogs — the merriest little beings 
imaginable. You will find the village Sili on the map 
—not so Cufr Ai, nor Ellar, which crowns the highest 
hill between Sili and Zeita — a village on the great 
road between Acre and Ramla, and which we passed a 
little to the south, the following morning. Six other 
villages, one of them named Baca, saluted us from the 
hills, as we descended from Ellar. We proceeded 
along a beautiful and very extensive plain, the pro- 
longation, I take it, of the Vale of Sharon ; the scenery 
reminded Clarke of Kent. Nothing could exceed the 

* 1 Kings xx. 10. 



256 



MOUNT CARMEL. 



richness of the soil or the beauty of its produce — even 
of the thistles, with which every fallow and uncultivated 
field was overgrown, of the deepest hue and most luxu- 
riant growth, often overtopping my head on horseback ; 
dear old Scotland can boast of none so beautiful. 

Presently, leaving the plain, we rode for two hours 
through a range of sloping hills covered with beautiful 
valonidis or evergreen oaks — regular English park- 
scenery ; then, the trees ceasing, through a continued 
expanse of sloping downs, till we reached the southern 
prolongations of Carmel, and the banks of " that an- 
cient river, the river Kishon henceforward, the hills 
on both sides were again covered with valonidis and 
prickly oaks. The road ran close under Mount Carmel, 
along the banks of the Kishon — a rocky path, winding 
through oleanders in full bloom, reeds, and wild 
flowers of every hue — the birds singing sweetly — wood- 
pigeons cooing- — and the temperature as fresh and 
mild as May in England. 

We had already caught a glimpse of the Great Plain 
of Esdraelon to the east, and presently emerged into 
that of Acre on the north, a magnificent expanse of the 
richest land. We encamped that night in an olive- 
grove near the village Yajour ; a wolf came down to 
reconnoitre us as we were resting under the hill, but 
ran off when Clarke went after him with his gun. 

Grand was the roar of the surf, as we rode up to the 
gates of Caypha next morning— that miserable hole ! 
We sent on our baggage to Acre, and turned west- 
wards towards the Carmelite Convent, built about half- 
way up the loftiest ridge of Mount Carmel — to which, 
indeed, correctly speaking, the name ought to be re- 
stricted ; it here descends in an almost perpendicular 
slope to the sea. The top and sides are covered with 
shrubs and flowers, but quite bare of trees i a few 



CARMELITE CONVENT. 



257 



olives flourish at its foot and on the lowest slope, as if 
trying to get up and invalidate the prophecy. The 
" excellency of Carmel" is indeed departed. 

Crossing the triangular plain formed by the moun- 
tain and the south-west horn of the bay of Acre, we 
ascended to the convent by a very steep path, partly 
protected by a parapet. It is certainly the handsomest 
convent I have seen in Palestine — three stories high — 
nine windows towards Acre, and thirteen towards the 
Mediterranean ; the fathers have been rebuilding it for 
eleven years, and it is not yet finished, though quite 
habitable. Two monks only were there, but nothing 
could exceed the cordiality of our reception, and press- 
ing were their entreaties that we should stay four, 
three, two, or at least one day with them. After coffee, 
they showed us their lions, — think what a pleasant sur- 
prise it was, when, opening a side door, they ushered 
us into a suite of no less than five small apartments, 
fitted up for visitors in the European style, and with 
European furniture, neatness itself,— window-curtains, 
tables, reed-bottomed and arm-chairs, beds with cur- 
tains, and gilt corner-tops, (one room with a double- 
sized bed, for a gentleman and lady,) basons, looking- 
glasses, &c, &c, and such a lovely sea- view from the 
windows ; these were all at our service, they said, for 
as long as we should like to stay there. Indeed I know 
no place (except, theoretically, some of the convents 
on Mount Lebanon) where I would sooner take up my 
quarters for a month or two of repose and study. 

The church, not yet finished, is built over the cave 
in which Elijah is said to have dwelt, but again, I must 
ask, where is the proof of this? In a side-chapel they 
showed us a beautiful wooden statue of Elijah killing 
one of the prophets of Baal. The view of the Medi- 
terranean from the roof of the Convent, a boundless 

s 



258 



ACRE. 



expanse but unrelieved by a single sail, was very grand, 
though fatiguing from its uniformity; to the S. and 
S.E. lie Acre and its noble bay; to the S. we saw 
Castel Pellegrino, illustrious in the old crusading day. 
and Tortosa; immediately below us, on the edge of the 
bay, they pointed to a few ruined walls, the faint traces 
of Porphyrion, so named from the ancient purple dye 
of Tyre. 

Acre is four hours distant from Carmel; we rode 
thither along the beach, frequently over wrecks of 
vessels of considerable size, almost buried in the sand. 
We forded the Kishon in about half a dozen steps; 
here it had lost all its beauty, and the Belus, of about 
the same breadth, was equally uninteresting. — Acre 
looks nobly from a distance, but within its walls is 
most wretched — houses in ruins, and broken arches in 
every direction — memorials of Ibrahim Pasha. We 
could hardly believe we had arrived at the Convent, 
when our guides led us into the court of a large ruin- 
ous building like a Khan ; the monks were as churlish 
as those of Mount Carmel were courteous, and the 
rooms they most ungraciously offered us swarmed so 
with fleas, that we reloaded the mules, and, walking 
back to the beach, encamped, in peace and freedom, 
on a grassy plot, almost alive with grasshoppers, harm- 
less little beings ! I never was so struck with the truth 
of Pope's beautiful line — "the green myriads of the 
peopled grass." — And such a sunset ! we should have 
lost it within the walls of the Convent. 

— Ibrahim Pasha ! Ibrahim Pasha ! — Why not a sigh 
for the olden day, when the Standard of England 
streamed from St. George's Mount, and the chivalry 
of Richard encamped around it, and the young knights 
stood and listened to Blondel's lay; but he that was 
to win on the morrow the honoured name of D'Acre 



NAZARETH. 



259 



sat apart from his companions, watching the sun setting 
in the far west, where dwelt the lady of his love — his 
casque lying on the grass, and his steed feeding beside 
him ! 

Tuesday, the sixteenth of May, we passed from the 
plain of Acre, through the beautiful vale of Bellina, or 
Abilin,* into the rich and fertile plan of Zebulon, and 
thence ascended, through a vale of olives, to Sep- 
phoury, the representee of Sepphoris, the ancient 
capital of Galilee. A few broken columns, sarcophagi, 
and excavated tombs, are its only remains of Jewish, 
and an old Gothic church with handsome arches, of 
Christian magnificence. 

In about an hour and a quarter beyond Sepphoury, 
we reached the loftiest ridge between the plain of 
Esdraelon and the sea; the view on every side was 
superb — in front of us stretched the magnificent plain 
of Esdraelon, or Jezreel, so interesting in the annals of 
history past — and to come, for there, according to the 
Apocalypse, will be fought the last great battle of 
Megiddon; Mount Tabor was full in view; the snowy 
peaks of Mount Hermon rose in the distance, and at 
our feet lay Xazareth, embedded in its little vale like 
the infant Saviour in his mother's arms. 

But the vale of Nazareth has no pretensions to the 
beauty ascribed to it by travellers ; its hills are barren 
and uncultivated, and the grove of fig-trees we passed 
through in descending to the village was very scanty. 
We were hospitably received by the Superior of the 
Spanish Convent, who gave us a very tolerable apart- 
ment, with a portentous crack, however, across the 
roof, the effect of the great earthquake of the first of 

* " Belonging to the village of that name, which we passed to the 
right at three hours and ten minutes after leaving Acre." Orig. 
Journal. [1847.] 

s 2 



260 



NAZARETH. 



January,— have you ever heard of it in England ? They 
had excellent rooms for visitors, but the wing of the 
house in which they were situated has been completely 
ruined. Only six persons were killed in Nazareth, and 
but few houses were injured. 

The church is very handsome, but inferior to those at 
Bethlehem and Jerusalem ; it contains two organs, one 
of them a very fine instrument. Expressing a wish to 
hear it played, the Superior sent for the organist, who 
surprised us by striking up a beautiful slow waltz, 
(there was no one in the church but ourselves,) and 
then the grand Constitutional March of Spain ; many 
other airs followed, executed with much taste and 
enthusiasm ; it was quite a treat, and did me much 
good. The church is built over a grotto, said to be 
part of the Virgin Mary's house, and the scene of the 
Annunciation. In front of the altar (that is, where it 
now stands) stood the Santa Casa of Loretto, said to 
have been transported thither by angels from this 
spot. 

Clarke and I visited the steep rock near the Maronite 
church, from which his father imagined the Jews wished 
to cast our Saviour ; it may very possibly be the spot ; 
the rock is still twenty-five or thirty feet in height, and 
so much rubbish has accumulated at the bottom that it 
may have been fifty or sixty — eighteen hundred years 
ago. If I recollect right, one might now jump down the 
Tarpeian rock at Rome without much risk of broken 
limbs. 

Every scene of our Saviour's life at Nazareth is 
marked by chapels and churches ; there is a well, how- 
ever, named after the Virgin, to the east of the city, 
which we gazed at with extreme interest ; it still sup- 
plies Nazareth with water, and thither, without a doubt, 
came the Virgin Mary and her Saviour Son, day after 



MOUNT TABOR. 



261 



day, to draw water — as we saw the daughters of Nazareth 
coming while we stopped our horses to drink at it. 

From Nazareth (sending on Missirie, with the bag- 
gage, direct to Mount Tabor) we rode over the hills to 
Kenna, the ancient Cana of Galilee, passing Reni, a 
village on the left, utterly destroyed by the earthquake. 
Cana rises on a gentle elevation, facing the south-west 
We stopped at a fountain of excellent water, flowing 
beneath the village through delicious groves of figs and 
pomegranates — the source, doubtless, of the very water 
that was made wine.* 

From Cana we struck into a narrow but most lovely 
vale, wooded chiefly with valonidis and prickly oaks, 
and carpeted with the most luxuriant grass and wild 
flowers, especially one resembling the hollyhock, which, 
at this season, adorns every field in Palestine. The 
vale ended in a small plain, nearly triangular, formed 
by the meeting of several valleys, and covered with 
corn — the only cultivated spot we saw during the whole 
ride. Turning to the right, in the direction of Mount 
Tabor, we presently caught a glimpse of the tent, and 
the union-jack hoisted on a tree as a signal. Missirie 
had selected a charming spot, about ten minutes up the 
mountain, commanding a splendid view over Galilee 
towards Nazareth and Saffet. Our guide from Naza- 
reth, a benevolent-looking, grey-bearded Christian, 
pointed out several spots sanctified by monkish tradi- 
tion, visible from this elevation, — the mountain of the 
Beatitudes, the place where the five thousand were 
fed, &c. &c. 

After resting awhile, we started for the top in time to 
see the sun set beyond the Mediterranean, a most mag- 

* Dr. Robinson fixes the true Cana at Kefr Kenna. B. Re- 
searches, vol. iii> p. 204. [1847.} 



262 



SEA OF GALILEE. 



nificent spectacle. The mountain being entirely covered 
with thick woods, and nearly level at the summit, we 
had some difficulty in discovering its highest point; 
once attained, the prospect north, south, east, and west, 
was almost boundless. The summit is covered with 
very extensive ruins of an ancient town and fortress 
mentioned by Josephus. The wall too that he built there 
in forty days is still traceable. Dr. Mac Lennan and I 
discovered a very large and deep fosse at the west end 
of the hill, with part of a wall of very considerable 
height still standing. Clarke found his way there by 
himself, but had much more difficulty in extricating 
himself from the maze of ruins ; he encountered four 
deep fosses at four points where he attempted egress, 
and almost thought himself bewitched. We met with 
arches, vaults, and excavations in every direction, all 
overgrown with thick grass and trees ; the soil is exces- 
sively rich. Of comparatively modern buildings, we 
saw a rude chapel near the castle, dedicated to the 
Transfiguration, with three altars, answering to the 
proposed three tabernacles,— that the Transfiguration 
took place on Mount Tabor, is, however, quite a gra- 
tuitous supposition. 

The next morning we rode to Tiberias, now Tabaria, 
across the great plain, leaving the " Hill of the Beati- 
tudes," on which our Saviour is said to have preached 
his sermon on the Mount, to the left, — I should rather 
say, that, while the rest of the caravan went on to 
Tiberias, Clarke and I rode to the top of it ; the view 
is lovely — the sea of Galilee lies before you, out- 
stretched like a map — its northern extremity, broken 
by creeks, but circular in the main, is quite distinct, 
while the eye follows the eastern shore for many a mile, 
till the mountains close in and conceal the southern 
extremity. The snowy ridge of Gebel Sheikh, the 



SEA OF GALILEE. 



263 



ancient Hermon, is the principal ornament of every 
view in this part of Galilee. Dr. Mac Lennan had 
not seen snow for sixteen years. 

We did not enter Tiberias, but pitched on the banks 
of the lake ; the earthquake had left the town in ruins, 
its walls cast down to the ground, its towers split in 
two, and their galleries and chambers laid open and 
yawning in mid-air. We all bathed and found it most 
refreshing. We spent a very pleasant afternoon and 
evening on the shore of this lovely lake— not, I hope, 
without thoughts of Him who dwelt on its banks and 
walked on its waves, and stilled them at his word, 
and whose will is still all-powerful to sustain us, when 
the winds wage war and the waters rise against us, and 
faith, like Peter, sinks in the heart, even while it 
wishes to draw nigh to God, and we look around for 
help, and finding none, cry aloud, " Lord, save us, we 
perish !" and then, and not till then, is the hand out- 
stretched, and the voice heard, that says to the winds, 
" Peace !" and to the sea, ic Be still !" and there is a 
great calm, and the heart, like its emblem, recomposed 
to rest, Faith walks once more on the waters, hand in 
hand, and in communion with her Saviour. 

Thoughtfully and peacefully passed that evening. 
A few hours' repose was very welcome after so many 
days' incessant march. ( 34 ) 

Section II. 

Arrived at the sea of Galilee, I was very anxious to 
discover, if possible, the sites of Capernaum, Chorazin, 
Bethsaida, &c, and to visit the eastern shore of the 
lake, of which I had never met with any description, — 
with the exception of Burckhardt, who only visited 
the south-eastern extremity, and a few other gentle- 



264 



CAPERNAUM. 



men who travelled as Arabs, dread of the inhabitants 
had hitherto deterred Frank travellers from venturing 
thither ; but we were a numerous party, well armed — 
times too were changed — and we determined therefore 
on making the complete tour of the lake, en route 
for Oom Keis and Jerash ; some humbug was talked 
to us, not about the inhabitants, but the roads, which 
our guide declared absolutely impassable, — truth is a 
rare bird in this country; there is as beautiful and 
easy a footpath along the whole eastern shore of the 
lake as across a meadow in England. 

About an hour north of Tiberias, and at the bottom 
of a deep bay, unnoticed in the map, we entered the 
plain of Gennesareth, of which Josephus gives such a 
glowing description, nor do I think it overcharged. 
It is excessively fertile, but now for the most part un- 
cultivated ; the waste parts are covered with the rank- 
est vegetation, reeds, sidr-trees, oleanders, honey- 
suckles, wild flowers, and splendid thistles in immense 
crops ; I saw a stunted palm or two, and there are fig- 
trees, though I did not see them, — once they were 
numerous. A broad clear stream and innumerable 
rapid little rivulets cross the road. Medjdel, a wretched 
village, probably represents Magdala, the birth-place 
of Mary Magdalen, both names implying a "tower" in 
Arabic and Hebrew, — but of Capernaum no traces re- 
main, not even, so far as I could ascertain by repeated 
inquiries, the memory of its name. Truly, indeed, 
has Capernaum been cast down to Hades — the grave 
of oblivion. I think it must have stood on the northern 
extremity of the plain, close to the sea ; its position on 
the shore cannot be doubted, — it was also very near 
the mountain on which our Saviour preached his ser- 
mon, for, descending from it, he entered into Caper- 
naum ; now the hills to the south of the plain are very 



CHORAZIN AND BETHSAIDA. 



265 



rugged and barren — no one would for a moment dream 
of climbing them for such a purpose as our Saviour 
had in view, — those that bound the plain to the west 
are too distant from the lake to answer the conditions, 
— while that to the north, which we crossed on our 
road to the head of the lake, agrees with them in every 
point, the summit, an easy walk frftm the town, sup- 
posing it situated as I conceive it was, being perfectly 
smooth and covered with fine grass, though the sides 
are rocky.* 

Beyond this hill, in another small plain, flow several 
very copious streams of warm mineral waters, and 
there are extensive ruins of Roman baths and aqueducts, 
After traversing a succession of sloping meadows, and 
some of the finest thickets of oleander I ever saw, in 
full flower, we reached the head of the lake, four hours 
after leaving Tiberias. 

I could hear nothing of Chorazin and Bethsaida, 
though I named them to almost every one we met. 
Bethsaida, indeed, was discovered by Pococke in ruins, 
and called by the same name, rather out of this im- 
mediate district, but Chorazin ought to be somewhere 
hereabouts. Dr. Richardson was informed that both 
Chorazin and Capernaum were near, but in ruins — no 
one, however, that we met seemed to know anything 
about them. Some future traveller may be more for- 
tunate in this interesting inquiry^ 35 ) 

After riding up the Ghor, or Valley of the Jordan, 
about an hour, we halted for the noontide rest under 
two large branching sidr-trees, laden with fruit — a thick 
grove of oleanders overspreading the moist plain 
below, wherever the Jordan flowed, or the little stream- 

* This is the position fixed upon by Dr. Robinson as the site of 
Capernaum. B. Researches, vol. iii, p. 251, [1847.] 



266 



EL HUSSN, 



lets, that branch off from and reunite with him, find 
their way. The river was flowing very swiftly, and of 
considerable breadth, but not deeper than the horses' 
knees, at the point where we forded it ; it was a charm- 
ing evening, and I do not think I exaggerate in saying 
that thousands of birds were singing in the thickets as 
we crossed the Ghor — but the noise they made was 
horrible. 

Reaching the foot of the eastern mountains in an 
hour and forty minutes, and turning southwards, we 
rode for nearly two hours and a half as far as the 
mountain El Hussn, beyond Wady Sumuk, where we 
pitched for the night near a Bedouin camp. So far 
from finding the road rugged or difficult, it was far 
easier than that on the western bank— in fact, by far 
the best we had ever travelled on in Syria — lying 
entirely through meadows, covered with corn, that 
descend in a gentle declivity to the water's edge,— 
and this description applies to the whole eastern side 
of the lake ; the western is much more rugged and pre- 
cipitous. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the lake 
and of the opposite mountains at sunset; the view 
from Tibeiias is quite tame in comparison, — though, 
'tis true, you do see Mount Hermon. 

Next morning we climbed up the mountain El Hussn, 
which, at a distance, so strongly resembles the hump 
of a camel, that I think there can be little doubt of its 
being the ancient Gamala, described by Josephus as 
resembling, and named after, the said protuberance. 
It has been a place of tremendous strength, and no 
slight importance. Valleys, deep and almost perpen- 
dicular, surround it on the north, east, and south. 
On the south side the rock is scarped angularly for de- 
fence ; on the eastern, it is built up, so as to bar all 



PROBABLY GAMALA. 



267 



approach from below ; to the south-east a neck of land, 
of much lower elevation, and scarped on both sides, 
connects it with the neighbouring mountains, and com- 
municates by a steep descent with the southern valley ; 
travellers from the east and west appear to have met at 
this neck of land, and thence ascended to the city ; in 
fact, the southern valley is still the high road between 
the lake and the country east of it — but no one now, 
save the curious Frank, turns out of his path to visit 
El Hussn. 

Ignorant of the shorter road, we ascended it in almost 
a direct line from the lake. If, as I conclude, the 
houses were built on the steep face of the mountain, 
Josephus might well, describe them as hanging as if 
they would fall one on the other. All traces of them 
have been swept away, and the mountain is now 
covered with thick grass. The top is sprinkled with 
trees ; we found many ruins on it, apparently of the 
citadel, but not very interesting. 

Passing a ruined wall, and advancing eastward, we 
came to the picturesque remains of a gate, built of mas- 
sive stones ; granite columns were lying about, — one, 
at a little distance, partly erect — and quantities of 
polished stone strewn in every direction. Further on, 
we found a curious cone of basalt — then a well, and 
the remains of a bath — and another gate on the eastern 
brow of the hill, by which we descended to the above- 
mentioned neck of land, and thence into the valley. 
Many sarcophagi, part of a cornice, and the disunited 
stones of a water-course, were lying on the isthmus ; 
and in the face of the mountain to the south, over- 
hanging the valley, are many tombs — the only ones I 
saw on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Descend- 
ing the valley towards the lake, we met a party of 



268 



EL HUSSiY. 



Arabs, "bound for Feik,the town which gives its modern 
name to all this district, the ancient Gadarene. 

What the old name of El Hussn was — Gamala, or 
Gadara — I do not pretend to decide, but I felt the 
strong conviction, as I descended the valley, that this 
was the city of the Gadarenes,* to which our Saviour 
had crossed from Capernaum (just opposite) when, 
" immediately on coming out of the ship, there met 
him out of the tombs a certain man possessed with 
devils, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass that 
way" — the high road of the country then, as now. Our 
Saviour, on the people of the city entreating his de- 
parture, returned to Capernaum, his object in crossing 
having merely been to avoid the importunity of the 
multitude, though doubtless he had foreknown from all 
eternity the miracle of mercy there to be performed by 
him on the wretched demoniac. Moreover, below the 
hill, as you descend towards the lake, are certain steep 
eminences, on which the swine may have been feeding 
when the devils begged leave to enter into them ; 
" running down a steep place into the sea" cannot 
imply a precipice immediately overhanging the lake, 
for there is none such on the whole eastern shore, and, 
if one of these steep declivities be not the scene of that 
stupendous miracle, I know of no place that answers 
the description. I was glad to find in conversation 
with my friend Mr. Farren, after arriving at Damascus, 
that the conviction of this being the city of the Gada- 
renes had struck him just as forcibly as myself, t 

After reaching the southern extremity of the lake, 

* Otherwise called, " of the Girgashites." [1847.] 
f " Between El Hussn and the extremity of the lake, we passed 
to the right Herbe Summera, a village of mud huts, built (Dr. 
Mac Lennan observed) in the shape of tents, exactly like the small 
tents called in India rowties." Orig. Journal. [1847.] 



OOM KEIS. 



269 



and traversing for a short while the valley of the 
Jordan, we reached the banks of the ancient Yermuck, 
a fine swift-flowing river, about as wide as the Jordan, 
but considerably deeper, four or five feet at least, — but 
we forded it without difficulty, and then struck into the 
hills to the east, which we ascended for about an hour 
and a half, when, to our surprise, instead of having to 
descend again, we found ourselves on an extensive 
plain, on which stand the ruins of Oom Keis — in all 
probability, Gadara. 

These ruins are very considerable. Besides the 
foundations of a whole line of houses, there are two 
theatres, on the north and west sides of the town — the 
former quite destroyed, but the latter in very tolerable 
preservation, and very handsome ; near it the ancient 
pavement, with wheel-tracks of carriages, is still visible. 
Broken columns and capitals lie in every direction, and 
sarcophagi to the east of the town, where the tombs 
are, — and these tombs are by far the most interesting 
antiquities to be seen in Oom Keis. They are almost 
all inhabited, and the massive stone doors, that origin- 
ally closed them, still move on their hinges, and open 
or shut at the option of the present owners. These 
doors are usually about five or six inches thick. The 
best specimen I saw was beautifully carved in four 
deep pannels, with a false knocker; a wreath between 
two roses was sculptured on the lintel, and the sar- 
cophagus still retained its place within. We saw 
numbers of stone doors afterwards in the Hauran, all 
the Roman houses there having originally been 
furnished with them, but nowhere any so handsome 
as those of the sepulchres at Oom Keis. Over one of 
them I was shown a Greek inscription, claiming it as 
the tomb of Gaius Annius Gaaniph, a curious mixture 
of Hebrew and profane names. 



270 



SHEIKH SULEYMAN. 



These tombs have been supposed to be those haunted 
by the demoniac of Scripture, but surely they should 
not be looked for at an inland to^wn, some miles to the 
south-east of the sea of Galilee ; besides, it is clear 
that, as our Saviour did not enter the " city of the 
Gadarenes," the tombs lay to the west of it; whereas 
uiese are to the east of Oom Keis. 

The guide we procured here, though after a great 
deal of difficulty, led us quite astray to a village called 
Melka, or Meltsha, where our arrival excited great 
astonishment and many mashaUahs at our maps, guns, 
&c. ; they probably had never seen Franks before. 
Taking another guide from this place, the following 
morning, we pursued our way through scenery, for the 
most part extremely ugly and void of interest, (but 
good soil, and not a little under cultivation,; to Erbad, 
where we found the secretarv and suite of an officer of 
Ibrahim Pasha, absent in the neighbourhood on duty ; 
they pressed us most cordially to alight and drink their 
master's coffee, but we had not time, and declined 
their kindness. The secretary, however, obliged us in 
another way by procuring us a far more efficient guide 
in Sheikh Suleyman, Sheikh of the Christians of El 
Hussn, the next village we came to. 

On arriving there, the Sheikh insisted on our resting 
in his house, and there was no evading his hospitality. 
It was the largest in the village, and everything about 
it betokened him a man of consequence. A number of 
women and children were ejected to make room for us. 
Our carpet was spread on a raised dais, or platform, at 
one end of the large arched apartment of which the 
whole house consisted ; he sat down with us. and the 
Christian villagers sat below and on the edge of the 
platform ; some were old men, all wore the kerieh, or 



SHEIKH SULEIjIAN. 



271 



Bedouin head-dress, — the turban is very seldom seen 
east of the Jordan. 

I asked after Mousa Hakim, Mi Seetzen, the first 
European who travelled in these regions, about thirty 
years ago ; an old man replied that he had earned his 
saddle-bags ; they inquired if I was his son, and another 
added I was very like him. He was here, they said, 
nineteen days, making El Hussn his head-quarters, 
and visiting the different places in the neighbourhood, 
— naming them in succession. Abdallah ul Ganem, 
" Seetzen's hospitable old landlord," as Burckhardt, 
who was also his guest, calls him, is still living ; they 
talked in very high terms of Ibrahim Beg — evidently a 
Frank traveller — can it have been Burckhardt ? The 
Arab nom de guerre he commonly assumed was Sheikh 
Ibrahim. 

Our host's coffee was very good ; he had some diffi- 
culty, however, at first, in procuring water, and, to our 
surprise, we learnt that, except a spring which pro- 
duced only two skins a-day, there was none drink- 
able in the village, and they were obliged to bring 
the surplus from a considerable distance. On our 
return to El Hussn, several days afterwards, the 
Sheikh's son visited us, and inquired whether our 
English books mentioned the existence of any spring 
there, — such an opinion have these orientals of Frankish 
learning. 

In our ride that afternoon, the old Sheikh pointed 
out many fine fields as his property ; the land, he said, 
was very rich, and, if the English would but come and 
take possession of it, they would join heart and hand 
with them, and drive out the Turks with the sword. 
This feeling is almost universal among the villagers 
east of the Jordan, and no wonder, for their state is 



272 



NAIMI. 



wretched, scorched as they are by that iron furnace- 
Egypt* 

Two hours beyond El Hussn, we encamped at the 
large village of Naimi. The moment we arrived, the 
Greek priest came down, and implored us to lodge 
with him ; we excused ourselves with all civility, saying 
we always slept in our tent in the fresh air. After we 
had pitched and settled in it, he brought us a goat as a 
present ; we told him we had killed a sheep the night 
before, and had plenty of meat ; nothing would satisfy 
him, — he had given us the goat, he said, and it was im- 
possible for him to take it back. Punch accordingly 
took possession. Nothing could exceed the hospitality 
of this good man ; hospitality, east of the Jordan, is 
dreadfully embarrassing, and one is obliged sometimes 
to be almost rude in evading it, but the horrors accept- 
ance would involve one in are too awful to contemplate 
with equanimity. We did not forget next day to recom- 
pense the priest for his goat through the medium of his 
child ; he convoyed us some distance out of the town, 
and we parted. 

The wood-scenery spoken of in such high terms by 
Buckingham, Irby and Mangles, &c, began to appear 
about a quarter of an hour after leaving Naimi — trees, 
thinly scattered at first, but which soon became nume- 
rous ; and the road henceforward was extremely pretty, 
winding over hills and through vales and narrow rocky 
ravines, overhung with the valonidi oak and other beau- 
tiful trees of which I knew not the names. Approach- 
ing Jerash, (Souf lying considerably to the west,) the 
woods had suffered much from fire ; the whole moun- 
tain-side had been burnt; the herbage was quite con- 

* The insurrection, in fact, broke out the year afterwards, 1839, 
rendering the whole of the country east of the Jordan inaccessible 
[1847.] 



JERASH. 273 

surned, many trees had perished in the conflagration, 
some were standing, half alive, half dead, while others, 
in the midst of the desolation, had qnite escaped.* 
Jerash lay before us, — after a steep and rocky descent, 
we reached the bank of a beautiful little stream, thickly 
shaded by tall oleanders, and, passing through hun- 
dreds of sheep and goats watering at it, ascended to 
the summit of a hill in the midst of the ruins, near a 
spacious oval colonnade, which forms the termination 
of the principal street, and was once, probably, the 
forum of Jerash. We pitched on the top of the hill, 
and, re-descending, forthwith commenced our examina- 
tion of the ruins. 

We visited the south-western section first, and, pass- 
ing through the oval colonnade, ascended to the remains 
of a fine temple, once surrounded by a peristyle of 
Corinthian columns, of which one broken one only 
remains erect; capitals, of good execution, and frag- 
ments of the frieze, are lying about. I may as well 
remark here, once for all, that almost all the finest 
works of architecture in Syria are of the Corinthian 
order. Close to the temple stands a theatre in excel- 
lent preservation, the seats often quite perfect for many 
rows together ; there are thirty rows. The galleries 
are now the private dwelling-houses of the Arabs, and 
we did not enter them from the blended fear of intru- 
sion and fleas. The buildings behind the stage, with 
the three front doors, (filled up with rubbish,) and the 

* I remarked the same phenomenon at Hamburgh, after the fire 
— the number of black withered trees which remained, not mere 
stumps, but skeletons calcined as they grew — every branch and 
twig perfect, and cutting distinct and sharp against the sky as in 
winter, but with a blackness that told the tale of their destruction, 
even had there not been almost always others of bright green in the 
same line of prospect, affording a most extraordinary contrast. 
[1847.] 

T 



274 



JERASH. 



side-entrances, remain unusually perfect, and many of 
the pillars are still standing. A large circus without 
the south-western gate, and, beyond it, the remains of 
a large heavy triumphal arch, are the only other objects 
worth notice in this direction. 

Returning through the remains of the south-western 
gate, to the oval colonnade, (of the Ionic order and in 
very good preservation,) we proceeded along the prin- 
cipal street, running N.E. and S.W. along the side of 
the hill on which Jerash is built, and lined with Corin- 
thian columns ; at its point of intersection with another 
street running down to the river, (on the right, east of 
the town,) stand four square pedestals, ornamented 
with niches for busts on each side, and once probably 
surmounted by pillars or statues, — they are much hand- 
somer though smaller, than those we afterwards saw at 
Palmyra, and at Shoaba in the Hauran. The cross- 
street leads to a bridge, and on the other side of the 
river (where a suburb appears to have been built) stand 
a large Christian church and the ruins of a temple. 
Proceeding along the principal street, we came to a 
semicircular recess, on the left, of very rich archi- 
tecture, but much injured,— probably an ancient temple, 
as four fine columns, much loftier than their neigh- 
bours, stand in front of it. An inscription records the 
name of M. Aurelius Antoninus. 

Farther on, still to the left of the street, stands the 
propylon or gateway to the temple of Baal, or the Sun, 
the principal edifice of Jerash. It is a very handsome 
building; the pediments and friezes are particularly 
rich. A long inscription is lying on the ground in 
fragments ; I could make enough of it out to conclude 
that the temple was built by or under the reign of one 
of the Antonines. A flight of steps led originally from 
the propylon to the brow of the hill, and a central 



JERASH. 



275 



colonnade from thence to the temple. It stood in the 
centre of a large court surrounded by columns, of which 
two only, on the north side, remain perfect. The 
columns of the portico are in very good preservation, 
but not of the best execution ; one of them, the second 
from the south, rocks in the breeze, — we saw it dis- 
tinctly. The inside of the temple is quite plain. Baal's 
worship was universal over this country; the finest 
temples existing in Syria, those of Baalbec, Palmyra, 
and Jerash, were all dedicated to him. 

Opposite to the propylon, another cross-street runs 
down towards the river, bordered by columns, erect 
only on the south side ; traces are discernible of the 
ancient pavement, which was raised in the middle of 
the street, with a trottoir on a lower level. It ends in a 
'semicircular platform, built up over the river. 

Beyond the propylon, following the course of the 
main street, and to the left of it, stands another theatre 
(for the combats of wild beasts) with a colonnade in 
front of it, from which a third cross-street runs down 
to the river, meeting the High Street at a rotunda, 
(which has suffered much from the recent earthquake,) 
and ending in an immense accumulation of vaults and 
arches overhanging the stream — probably baths. The 
High Street runs on in a north-easterly direction, till it 
ends at the gate of the town. The ancient pavement 
is in singular preservation beyond the baths. 

Here ended our explorations, and now for the result. 
I am glad I have seen Jerash, and think it well worth 
visiting, but I confess it fell far short of my expecta- 
tions. No one building gave me the impression of per- 
fect grandeur or perfect beauty, — there is none that 
stamps itself on the memory and the affections ; the 
conception and execution of the ruins are in general 
poor, without dignity or grace ; the eye is perpetually 

T 2 



276 



JERASH. 



offended by the want of harmony and proportion — 
capitals too large or too small for their shafts, shafts 
sloping too suddenly to their capitals, and others, next 
to them, in the same building, maintaining the same 
stumpy thickness throughout; while, in the colonnade 
of the principal street, columns of different sizes are 
united in the same row, and those on the opposite 
sides of the street do not face each other. The Ionic 
oval colonnade is pretty enough as a whole, but the 
pillars, in themselves, are very poor and diminutive. 
The sculptures of the recess or temple in the High 
Street, and the frieze of the propylon of the great tem- 
ple, are certainly very rich, but neither gave me the 
delight I expected. The theatre, indeed, pleased me 
most of all the monuments of Jerash. I cannot con- 
ceive how any one could have named it on the same 
day with Palmyra. I should call Jerash a very fair 
specimen of a second-rate provincial Roman town, and 
such Pella was, the town the Christians fled to on the 
approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and with which 
Jerash seems much more identifiable than with Gerasa, 
similar as are the names ; for Gerasa lay to the east of 
the sea of Galilee. And if Jerash he Pella, what an 
interesting place would it be to the Christian pilgrim, 
even were the site as bare as that of Jerusalem herself, 
after the plough-share of Terentius Rufus had torn up 
her very foundations ! 

Now, though I have said all this, I would not for the 
world dissuade any traveller from visiting these ruins. 
I was disappointed, I allow, but my expectations had 
been too much excited. Coutts, some day, remember- 
ing my disappointment, yet following my advice, or 
rather the dictates of his own good sense, in seeing and 
judging for himself, may probably be as agreeably sur- 
prised with Jerash as I was with Palmyra, after all I 
had heard to its disparagement. 



COUNTRY OF AMMON. 



277 



Jerash has suffered much from the late earthquake ; 
we saw many recent ruins; Mr. Moore was here at the 
time, and he described the columns as chattering on 
their bases. But many a previous earth-throb has 
aided the scythe of Time in the work of destruction ; 
the pillars consist, for the most part, of several courses 
of stone, and in repeated instances every course has 
been shaken out of its place,— and that many a year 
ago. 

With what different views do Franks now visit these 
Syrian wilds! I dare say Baldwin and his chivalry 
thought little of the temples and theatres of Jerash 
when they tore down the fortress that the Soldan of 
Damascus had had the impudence to build so near their 
territory. It was built, we are told, of large squared 
stones; many a Roman edifice, I fear, suffered to 
supply the materials. ( 36 ) 

The heat was very great at Jerash. By day, the 
ruins were absolutely alive with lizards, and at night 
the tent swarmed with insects — harmless, however, and 
old acquaintances, except a large creature like a spider, 
armed with four powerful nippers which drew blood ; 
there were scorpions too, but none of them visited us, — 
and land tortoises, rustling through the long grass, as 
we rambled among the ruins. 

It was our original idea, after determining on the 
tour of the Hauran, to cross the desert from Jerash to 
Bozrah, a journey of about ten hours, but we found that 
route impracticable for horses, there being no water 
the whole way. We were therefore under the neces- 
sity of returning to El Hussn, and following the usual 
road of the country people. We quitted Jerash how- 
ever in a southerly direction, unable to resist the tempt- 
ation of visiting Ammon and Assalt. 

Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of the children of 
Ammon, the city Joab was besieging when Uriah was 



278 



AMMON. 



sacrificed at the command of David, and subsequently 
named Philadelphia by the Greeks, still retains among 
the Arabs its original name, pronounced Amman, with 
the broad Italian a. ' ' 

In less than an hour after leaving Jerash, we crossed 
the Nahr el Zerka, the ancient Jabbok, a very shallow 
river, into which the stream of Jerash flows ; its posi- 
tion in the map (in mine, at least) is quite wrong. The 
trees became fewer and fewer as we receded from 
Jerash, and disappeared altogether about two hours 
north of Amnion. We passed many ruined sites, and 
the country has once been very populous, but, during 
the whole day's ride, thirty-five miles at least, we did 
not see a single village ; the whole country is one vast 
pasturage, overspread by the flocks and herds of the 
Anezee and Beni-Hassan Bedouins. In the fine large 
valley El Bega, six hours from Jerash, we passed three 
large camps of the latter, and near Ammon a still larger 
one of the former tribe. Their camels were indeed 
without number, grazing by hundreds, and nothing 
could be more picturesque than the chivalry of the Clan 
Anezee riding about, the little banderoles attached to 
the heads of their long lances streaming in the wind, — 
the Beni Hassan tribe carry guns only. None of the 
women were veiled. The Sheikh's tent was always dis- 
tinguished by a spear reared in front of it, reminding 
us of an interesting incident in the early history of 
David. 

The scenery waxed drearier and drearier as, at ten 
hours and a half from Jerash, we descended an akiba 9 
or precipitous stony slope, into the Valley of Ammon, 
and crossed a beautiful stream, bordered at intervals by 
strips of stunted grass; no oleanders cheered the eye 
with their rich blossoms; the hills on both sides were 
rocky and bare, and pierced with excavations and na- 
tural caves. Here, at a turning in the narrow valley, 



AMMON. 



279 



commence the antiquities of Amnion. It was situated 
on both sides of the stream; the dreariness of its pre- 
sent aspect is quite indescribable, — it looks like the 
abode of death; the valley stinks with dead camels — 
one of them was rotting in the stream, and, though we 
saw none among the ruins, they were absolutely covered 
in everj' direction with their dung. That morning's 
ride would have convinced a sceptic; how runs the 
prophecy? " I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, 
and the Ammonites a couching-place for flocks; and ye 
shall know that I am the Lord!" 

Nothing but the croaking of frogs, and screams of 
wild birds, broke the silence as we advanced up this 
valley of desolation. Passing on the left an unopened 
tomb, (for the singularity in these regions is, when the 
tombs have not been violated,) several broken sarco- 
phagi, and an aqueduct — in one spot full of human 
skulls, a bridge on the right, a ruin on the left — appa- 
rently the southern gate of the town, and a high wall 
and lofty terrace, with one pillar still standing, the re- 
mains probably of a portico — we halted under the 
square building, supposed by Seetzen to have been a 
mausoleum, and, after a hasty glance at it, hurried up 
the glen in search of the principal ruins, which we found 
much more extensive and interesting than we expected, 
— not, certainly, in such good preservation as those of 
Jerash, but designed on a much grander scale. Storks 
were perched in every direction on the tops of the 
different buildings ; others soared at an immense height 
above us. 

We examined the ruins more in detail the following 
morning. The Mausoleum, externally, is a very hand- 
some square edifice, ornamented with Corinthian pilas- 
ters and an elegant cornice, the greater part of which 
is lying broken on the ground ; the interior is circular, 
an arched window, elegantly carved with roses and 



280 



AMMON. 



fretwork on the suffit, opening on the river, under an 
ornamented frieze, — and a smaller, in the adjacent 
wall of the building, surmounted by a sculptured shell. 
The corresponding windows and walls of the edifice are 
quite destroyed. The first ruin we came to beyond it, 
(the valley bending eastwards,) was a large well-built 
Christian Church, with a steeple, which we ascended 
by thirty-three steps, in excellent preservation.* Be- 
yond it, alongside the river, are the remains of a lofty 
portico, consisting of a central arched recess, from 
which wings, with smaller recesses, seem originally to 
have branched, curving irregularly according to the 
bend of the river, and ornamented in front with lofty 
Corinthian columns, of which four, much injured, and 
without their capitals, are still standing. Viewed from 
the other side of the water, the back of this portico (if 
it really was one) has the appearance of a fortress, be- 
ing supported by two lofty round towers, united by a 
bastion, projecting angularly. At the time of the floods, 
the water of the river was conveyed by an arch under 
this building through the town. 

The river, throughout the valley, has been confined, 
and, in many places, still flows within a channel of 
masonry, as a safeguard against inundation. From this 
artificial bank a handsome bridge, of one broad arch, 
still quite entire, is thrown across the stream beyond the 
portico. We crossed it to the southern bank, there 
being nothing more on the northern worth seeing, ex- 
cept the remains of a temple of florid Corinthian archi- 
tecture and sculpture, sadly injured by tkne and wind. 
A few moments, and we reached the noblest ruin at 

* " They end in a broad step, admitting of a view through four 
windows to the four points of the compass. The steeple, to above the 
windows, is built square, above as an octagon." Orig. Journal [1847.] 



AMMON< 



281 



Ammon, a most magnificent theatre, built in the hollow 
of the southern hill. A quadrangular colonnade, of the 
Corinthian order, extended in front of it, — twelve of 
the pillars, forming the south-western angle, are still 
standing ; eight perfect, with their entablature, in front 
of the theatre, and four, without capitals, running to- 
wards the river. Between the colonnade and the south- 
west horn of the theatre, the ancient pavement remains 
very perfect ; the raised pavement of the proscenium, 
or platform behind the stage, is also in good preserva- 
tion, but this part of the building is much ruined. Many 
Corinthian capitals are lying on the ground, and traces 
of modern Arab houses are discernible in the area. 
Bones and skulls of camels were mouldering there, and 
in the vaulted galleries of this immense structure. We 
counted forty-three tiers of very high seats, divided by 
three galleries ; but several more, probably, are covered 
by the accumulated earth. Behind the highest gallery, 
a wall is built up against the rock, in the centre of which 
a doorway, receding rather more than three feet, with 
a semicircular recess on each side, gives access to a 
square vaulted apartment, — the whole, inside and out- 
side, overgrown with creepers, and the architectural de- 
corations very chaste ; it produces a beautiful effect 
from below, the mountain crags towering over it. This, 
according to Arab tradition, was the summer seat of the 
Prince of Ammon in Solomon's time — the theatre was 
his palace.* 

Beyond the theatre — and the last building in that 
direction, is a curious nondescript pile ; vaulted gal- 
leries and arched entrances from without, and a mass 
of ruins within ; I could not tell what to make of it. 
Nearly opposite the theatre, on the northern hill, stands 

* See Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes East of the 
Jordan, p. 95. 



282 



AMMON. 



the large building, called by Burekhardt the Castle ; I 
did not visit it, — Dr. Mac Lennan did, and discovered 
moreover very extensive rains on a table-land at the 
summit. 

There are many other ruins in the valley of Ammon, 
but in such utter decay, that it is difficult to say what 
they have been. Near the Corinthian temple, on the 
north side of the river, stands the broken shaft of a very 
noble column, larger in its diameter than any at Jerash 
- — as are also the columns in front of the supposed 
Portico. 

Such are the relics of ancient Ammon, or, rather, of 
Philadelphia, for no building there can boast of a prior 
date to that of the change of name. It was a bright 
cheerful morning, but still the valley is a very dreary 
spot, even when the sun shines brightest. Vultures 
were garbaging on a camel, as we slowly rode back 
through the glen, and re-ascended the akiba by which 
we approached it. Ammon is now quite deserted, ex- 
cept by the Bedouins, who water their flocks at its little 
river, descending to it by a toady, nearly opposite the 
theatre, (in which Dr. Mac Lennan saw great herds and 
flocks, and, if I recollect right, considerable ruins,) and 
by the akiba. Re-ascending it, we met sheep and goats 
by thousands, and camels by hundreds, coming down 
to drink, — all in beautiful condition. How— let me 
again cite the prophecy — how runs it ? — "Ammon shall 
be a desolation! — Rabbah of the Ammonites... shall be 
a desolate heap ! — I will make Rabbah a stable for 
camels, and the Ammonites a couching-place for flocks, 
and ye shall know that I am the Lord !" ( 37 ) 

Godfrey of Boulogne's last expedition was a raid 
into this country of the Ammonites • he was driving 
home an immense booty, when a Saracen Emir, bold in 
war, good knight and true, and one that would have wept 



GODFREY OF BOULOGNE. 



283 



over a gallant enemy as over a friend, overtook him 
with a noble train of followers. He had heard much 
of Godfrey's personal strength, and had now come from 
a great distance with the sole view — not of trying it by 
a personal encounter, as a knight of Frangistan would 
have done, but of begging him to kill a large camel he 
had brought with him, in order that he might be able 
to speak as an eye-witness of the strength he had heard 
so highly vaunted. The courteous Godfrey drew his 
sword — struck — and the camel's head fell to the ground. 
The astonished Arab, attributing the facility with which 
the deed was done to the temper of the blade, asked 
whether he could do the same thing with another man's 
weapon r Smiling at the question, and taking the Sara- 
cen's own scymetar, he struck off another camel's head 
with the same ease. The grateful Emir, convinced that 
all that he had heard of the Frank leader was true, thanked 
him, offered him presents of gold, silver, and horses, 
and then returned to his own country, while Godfrey 
went on to Jerusalem, where he died almost imme- 
diately afterwards. 

The year after this singular interview, Baldwin of 
Edessa, Godfrey's brother, and the second Latin king 
of Jerusalem, made another successful foray on the 
Arabs beyond the Jordan, surprised their tents in the 
middle of the night, and carried off their women and 
children prisoners, besides an innumerable multitude of 
asses and camels. The men, seeing their approach, 
had all leaped on their horses, and plunged into the desert. 
— The Franks immediately commenced their retreat, 
t ie captives and cattle marching in the van. Among 
the former they presently recognised an illustrious lady, 
the wife of a powerful prince of the country, and who 
was in hourly expectation of making him a father. 
The moment he heard of her situation, King Baldwin 



284 



BALDWIN OF ED ESS A. 



stopped, had her taken off the camel on which she rode, 
prepared a comfortable bed for her of part of the spoils, 
and gave her a supply of provisions and two skinfuls of 
water, — picked out a maiden to attend her, and two 
she-camels to give her milk ; and, lastly, wrapped her 
carefully up in his own cloak — sprang on his horse, 
and departed. — That very evening the Arab Prince, fol- 
lowing the track of the Christians, his heart bleeding 
for the loss of his dear wife, and under such pecu- 
liarly painful circumstances, came unexpectedly to 
the very spot where she lay — with her new-born child! 
— We may imagine the rapture of such a meeting. 

Few months elapsed before he had an opportunity of 
manifesting his gratitude. Baldwin, who, with a train 
of two hundred horse, had imprudently attacked an 
army of several thousand Egyptian invaders, had been 
forced to take refuge with the remnant of his little band 
in the Castle of Ramla, the fortifications of which were 
too weak to allow of even a hope of their making good 
their defence on the morrow. The Arab prince, how- 
ever, who acted with the Egyptian army as an auxiliary, 
remembering Baldwin's kindness, stole out of the camp 
by night, and approaching the Castle walls, and speak- 
ing in a stifled tone, besought instant access to the King 
as the bearer of a most important secret. Admitted, he 
told him who he was, reminded him of the act which he 
now rejoiced in the prospect of requiting, and, premis- 
ing that the Egyptians had determined that evening to 
put every soul within the Castle to death, offered to 
conduct him himself to a place of safety. The offer 
was accepted — the Saracen guided the king (with as 
many of his followers as he judged he could save with- 
out risk of discovery) to the mountains, and quitting him 
there, with renewed professions of his gratitude and per- 
sonal good wishes, returned to his camp, while Bald- 



ASSALT. 



285 



win, with the utmost difficulty, and after much suffering, 
from thirst and hunger, found his way to his friends at 
Arsur.* 

We were now cutting right across country, in the 
direction of Szalt, or, as it is commonly pronounced, 
Assalt, supposed to be Maehaerus, the scene of John the 
Baptist's execution, and six hours and a half distant from 
Ammon. In two hours and a half, we re-entered the 
woody region, which continued at intervals all the rest 
of our morning's ride. An hour afterwards, we observed 
traces of an ancient paved road, running nearly in the 
same direction as our own. We saw no village between 
Ammon and Assalt ; but several fine and very extensive 
crops of corn, which we were nearly half an hour riding- 
through, made us suspect we were in the neighbour- 
hood of one. We descended to Assalt by a steep 
craggy ravine, expanding, as we advanced, into a rich 
valley, terraced with vineyards ; gardens of figs, olives, 
and pomegranates, of the most refreshing green, suc- 
ceeded them; and presently, a turn in the road intro- 
duced us to Assalt, — a very pretty place, excellently 
built for an Arab town, and looking extremely well, as 
it rose, tier above tier, on the side of a steep hill, crowned 
with a large Saracenic castle. We halted in front of it, 
under the olive-trees, for two or three hours.( 38 ) 

Between Assalt and El Hussn, the scenery is most 
lovely. We crossed Gebel Gilad, the ancient Mount 
Gilead, at its western extremity, where it takes the 
name of Gebel Osha, from the prophet (as they con- 
sider him) Joshua, whose tomb we saw in a mosque on 
the summit of the mountain where we encamped that 
night. The tomb is along narrow trough, about twenty- 
five or thirty feet long, (the prophet's traditional stature,) 

* For the first of these anecdotes, see the ninth — for the second, 
the tenth — book of William of Tyre's History of the Crusades. 



286 GEBEL OSHA. 



but not more than three broad, — screened by a rail, co- 
vered with a dirty cloth, and filled near the aperture 
with votive offerings. The view from Gebel Osha was 
by far the grandest we had seen in the Holy Land ; it 
burst upon us unexpectedly, after about an hour and 
twenty minutes' ascent from Assalt,— we had no idea 
we were on such elevated ground ; the whole country 
lay below us, as far as the Jordan and the lofty moun- 
tains beyond it, the Jordan winding his way through the 
Ghor at the distance of about fifteen miles as the crow 
flies ; at least thirty miles of his course must have been 
within our view. Our guide pointed out the bearings 
of different places from Riha near Jericho, as far north 
as Besan, the Bethshan of Scripture, Nablis, he said, 
(retaining the Greek final vowel,) was directly in the 
eye of the (setting) sun. He talked much of Tsiferuda,* 
a ruined town in this neighbourhood, the " shops" of 
which, probably excavations, ran along the hills. This 
guide of ours, who accompanied us from Assalt to El 
Hussn, was a very intelligent man, full of anecdote, 
and with a hunter's eye,— almost indeed a Bedouin. 

It is almost a continuous descent from the tomb of 
Osha to the foot of Gebel Ajeloon, and every minute 
introduces you to some new scene of loveliness. I 
fancied I distinguished three stages in Mount Gilead, 
—the upper, chiefly productive of the prickly oak and 
arbutus, — the central, of prickly oak, arbutus, and fir, 
— the lower, gently sloping northwards, of prickly oak 
and valonidis. The path wound through thickets of the 
most luxuriant growth, and of every shade of verdure, 
frequently overshadowing the road, and diffusing a de- 
licious coolness, though a delightful fresh breeze so 
allayed the heat that it was never oppressive ; while the 
cooing of wood-pigeons, the calling of partridges, 

* Probably Cafr Iuda, i. e. a a city of the Jews." [1847.] 



THE ZERKA. 



287 



(magnificent birds, as large as pheasants,) — the in- 
cessant hum of insects, and hiss of grasshoppers singing 
in the trees as happy as kings, after breakfasting on the 
dews of Mount Gilead — and the thought that gave a 
zest to it all, that this was Mount Gilead — made up a 
full cup of enjoyment, which I did quaff with my very 
soul.* 

A gentle slope, about an hour in length, intervenes 
between the foot of Mount Gilead and the last steep 
descent to the Zerka, or ancient Jabbok, — there the 
valonidis, the last tree that forsook us as we descended, 
cease almost entirely. Gebel Ajeloon was a very grand 
object, as we began the descent to the river — its lower 
ridges thickly dotted with trees— the upper and more 
northerly, which we soon lost sight of, quite black with 
them. 

The Zerka, as laid down in the maps, does not exist. 
It is the river named, I know not on what authority, 
Nahr el Zebeen and Kerouan, which we crossed within 
an hour after leaving Jerash. It flows here in a deep 
ravine, formed between the lower ridges of Gebel Aje- 
loon on the north, and Gebel Gilad on the south. It is 
a rapid stream, but not clear, nor deeper than the 
Horses' knees — shaded with tall reeds, willows, and 
oleanders. This was the ancient boundary between 
Ammon, the country of Sihor, King of the Ammonites, 
and that of Og, King of Bashan — which we now re- 
entered. It was on the banks too of this river that, 

* " At two hours and forty-five minutes from Gebel Osha, passed 
the ruined village Ullan ; while the mules went on to water at an 
excellent spring, our guide led us to the right of the road, and lead- 
ing the way on horseback through a pointed archway, we found 
ourselves in an old church, its groined roof supported by two rude 
pillars, one square, the other round — with two pointed arch win- 
dows." — Orig. Journal. [1847.] 



288 



GEBEL AJELOON. 



previous to his affecting interview with Esau, Jacob 
wrestled with the Angel of the Covenant until the 
ascent of the morning, and received his new name of 
Israel. 

We rested here, immediately after crossing the river, 
for two hours and a half, in a large cave formed by 
overhanging rocks, with the river in front of us, and a 
wild almond tree near its mouth, which supplied us 
with a welcome addition to some raisins, the best we 
ever tasted, that we had procured at Assalt. It was 
oppressively hot in this ravine, but delightfully cool 
again as we ascended Gebel Ajeloon, through scenery 
of more grandeur than that of Mount Gilead, and to the 
full as beautiful. After three quarters of an hour of 
steep ascent, the valonidis re-appeared on both sides of 
a very beautiful ravine, running up into the mountains, 
—not valonidis onlv, but it was clothed to the very 
summit with prickly oaks and olive trees, tufted among 
the crags, — superb oleanders blossoming in the dry 
bed of a torrent, alongside of the road. Views more 
and more magnificent, towards Mount Gilead, opened 
upon us the higher we ascended \ corn-fields, ready for 
the sickle, revealed the vicinity of a town, to wit, 
Bourma, — which we reached after an hour and twenty 
minutes' ascent ; the olives ceased a little beyond it, 
but arbutuses, firs, ashes, prickly oaks, and a sjDecies of 
the valonidi with a larger leaf than the usual sort, per- 
haps the oak of Bashan, succeeded. After two hours 
and a half, we reached a beautiful broad terrace of 
about twenty minutes in length, and completely covered 
with corn, just below the highest point of Gebel Aje- 
loon, which towered up most majestically on the left, 
its noble crags almost hidden among beautiful trees. 
From the termination of this plain, or terrace, we 
descended, in half an hour, to Zebeen, through noble 



ZEBEEN. 



289 



fir trees, far finer than those of Mount Gilead, — many 
of them blasted, and in ruins ; the sugh of the wind 
among their lofty boughs was quite Scottish. The 
beauty of the descent surpassed, if possible, that of the 
ascent, and the northward view was most splendid. 
But a painter only could give you an idea of these 
scenes of beauty and grandeur. 

Maps we found of little use in this country ; we 
wished to have seen Ajeloon, where there is a fine old 
Saracenic castle, ( 2Q ) but it lay on the west side of the 
mountain, and we found it our best plan to bid our 
guides go dogri, straightforwat'ds, to the places we were 
most anxious to reach, or we might have missed them 
altogether. 

It was a sweet evening. — We encamped on a grassy 
spot surrounded by trees, on the hill-side, near a de- 
licious spring, and, as usual, at some little distance from 
the village. The Sheikh ill Belled, however, soon 
made his appearance, with most pressing entreaties, as 
we had already pitched our tent, that we should dine 
and breakfast with him : on our declining his hospitality, 
he sent a large bowl of meat for the muleteers. The 
village, he told us, consisted of about thirty houses, or 
families, all Nuzzera, or Nazarenes, — no Mahometans 
residing there. These Oriental Christians seem always 
pleased at meeting European professors of the same 
faith ; an oppressed race themselves, they feel the high 
account in which the Christians of Europe, the English 
especially, are held, as reflecting dignity on themselves. 

Our next day's route was through very lovely but 
quieter scenery, — valleys full of olives, corn-fields re- 
claimed from the forest, and villages. At the bottom 
of the hill below Zebeen, we crossed the brook Nahalin, 
shaded by magnificent oleanders ; there is a ruined 
village of the same name near it. You will find Chetti, 

v 



290 FOREST SCENERY OF RASH AN". 

or Katti, in the maps, two hours and ten minutes 
beyond Zebeen, and Souf, a place of considerable im- 
portance, which we passed on the right, an hour and 
ten minutes beyond Chetti, — in sight of the hill we had 
crossed some days before, descending to Jerash. Mr. 
Farren tells me there are some Phoenician monuments 
near Souf, one of which he showed me a drawing of— 
as decidedly Druidical as Stonehenge. It is an in- 
teresting but not surprising fact, for the God of the 
Druids was the Baal of the Phoenicians— sun-worship, 
that earliest of idolatries. 

A quarter of an hour further, we filled our zumzum- 
mias at the last spring we were to find till we reached 
El Hussn. Half an hour afterwards, a beautiful narrow 
glen ushered us into a broad valley, richly wooded to 
the summits of the hills with noble prickly oaks, a few 
pine trees towering over them ; I never should have 
thought that the shrub I had seen covering the hills at 
Hebron could have attained such size and beauty ; yet 
the leaf of the largest tree is not larger than the shrub's. 
I saw an occasional degub tree, or arbutus, but the pre- 
vailing trees were oaks, prickly and broad-leaved, — it 
was forest scenery of the noblest character — next to that 
of Old England, with which none that I ever saw can 
stand comparison. On our journey to Jerash, by a 
different route from that of Irby and Mangles, Bankes, 
and Buckingham, we wondered at the encomiums 
lavished by those gentlemen on the woodland scenery 
of these regions ; we now thought that enough had 
scarcely been said in their praise. 

After about four hours' ride, the forest died gradually 
away, and, beyond Summut, a village we passed on the 
left, an hour and twenty minutes before arriving at El 
Hussn, entirely ceased. We had a fine desert view 
eastward, towards the Hauran, as we descended, be- 



THE HAURAN. 



291 



tween bleak stony hills, to El Hussn. Harvest was 
going on, and here we first met with a rural custom, 
which, I think I have heard, prevails also in some 
parts of England ; a reaper, detached from the band 
with a few ears of corn, presented them to us, in ex- 
pectation of a bagshish, or present, — which was seldom 
refused, unless the piastre-purse chanced to be empty. 
We were repeatedly afterwards subjected to this petty 
rural tax, which it always gave me pleasure to pay. 

There was no water to be had, next morning, so we 
were obliged to start without breakfast; the country 
was covered with locusts, — the stream we reached, after 
three hours' ride, was full of their dead bodies, and the 
breeze that passed over it absolutely putrid ; we got 
some excellent water, however, from the source, but 
stayed only long enough to eat a little bread with it, and 
water the animals. The map will give you no idea of 
our route ; we passed Tura on the left, Rumtha and 
Uxerr on the right, proceeding over a rich undulating 
plain, in an almost easterly direction from El Hussn, 
till, after six hours' ride and a quarter, we reached 
Daara, the first Hauran town we saw, and, of course, 
an object of great curiosity to us. 

The Hauran is an immense plain, very rich and 
fertile, sometimes slightly undulating, sometimes flat 
as a pancake, — with, here and there, (if you will ex- 
cuse another culinary simile,) low rounded hills, like 
dumplings, conspicuous from a great distance, and ex- 
cellent landmarks. The plain is covered in every 
direction with Roman towns, built of black basalt, some 
of them mere heaps of rubbish, others still almost per- 
fect, the Arab villagers dwelling under the same stone 
roofs, and entering by the same stone doors, as the old 
Romans, — stone doors, and stone roofs, owing to the 
want of timber in the Hauran, which obliged the colo- 

u 2 



292 THE HAURAN, 



nists to employ the more durable material. The doors 
are generally plain thick slabs, fixed into their sockets 
at the time the houses were built; the roofs are con- 
structed on a very curious principle, — a handsome 
arch, springing at once from the ground, is thrown across 
every large room ; small slabs of stone are laid on the 
wall above it, projecting a short distance on both sides, 
and on these again are laid other slabs, much longer, 
well cut, and closely united, which form the ceiling, 
while the smaller on which they rest, resemble plain 
cornices, the lower angles being smoothed away. 

Most of the chief towns of Auranitis exhibit traces 
of the architectural magnificence of Rome, so freely 
lavished on her remotest colonies, but what most struck 
me here was the consideration evinced and pains taken, 
even during the last ages of her decay, to promote the 
real welfare and comfort of her people. There is 
scarce a village without its tank — its bridge; plain, 
solid structures, so substantially built, that they are still 
almost invariably as good as new. 

The view over the Hauran is at all times striking, — 
at sunset, especially from an elevation, extremely beau- 
tiful. Gebel Sheikh, or Mount Hermon, the last 
mountain of the chain of Antilibanus, is always visible 
to the N.W. ; Gebel Hauran, a range of hills, of which 
the Kelb Hauran is the most prominent, running N.W. 
and S.E., limits the view to the east ; but to the south- 
east it is boundless. The soil, I said, was excellent ; 
numerous corn-fields surround every village, while other 
districts serve merely for pasturage, and are grazed 
by the flocks of the Anezee and Beni Hassan Bedouins. 

The majority of the villagers are, I believe, Arabs, 
but we visited many towns exclusively inhabited by 
Druses, akin to those of Mount Lebanon ; they seemed 
by far the most superior race in the country; their 



BOZRAH. 



293 



sheikhs and elderly men were always well — often hand- 
somely — drest, and their women neatness itself, in 
their veils of white, pendent from a silver horn project- 
ing from the forehead, reminding one of the " coiffure 
en pain de sucre," fashionable in France, and in 
England too, during the 14th and 15th centuries, and 
still more interestingly, of many Scriptural images 
derived, it would appear, from the prevalence of this 
costume, four thousand years ago, in Edom and the 
Holy Land. It is still the principal ornament of the 
fair sex, Christian as well as Druse, in Mount Le- 
banon. The Arabs, almost invariably, wear the 
Bedouin kef! eh, — the Druses adhere to the turban; the 
women of the former seldom veil their faces,— those of 
the latter always,— some of them, however, we could 
see were very handsome ; their complexion is remark- 
ably fair, and their children are uncommonly pretty. 
Thus much premised, and that the present inhabitants 
are a mere handful in comparison with the immense 
population the country once maintained, I will travel 
on in as few words as possible. 

At Daara, where we have been resting all this time, 
there is a very large ruined tank, and a handsome five- 
arched Roman bridge, in perfect preservation, thrown 
across the valley ; it has been a very large town, but 
the houses are now almost entirely ruined. An hour and 
ten minutes farther, we passed Nairni, in much more 
perfect condition, and halted at nightfall in the plain, 
having missed the village Kerek, which we were in 
search of, and failed in an attempt to reach another, 
which we fancied we saw at a distance. 

Next morning, passing numerous villages en route, 
though the whole country looks like a desert in the 
map, we encamped, after six hours' ride, among the 
ruins of Bozrah. — "Who is this that cometh from 



294 



BOZRAH. 



Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? — this that is 
glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of 
his strength ?" " I, that publish righteousness, mighty 
to save !" — At no place, during my tour, did I feel more 
vivid pleasure from the mere consciousness of being at 
it ; ignorant of Arabic, and unaware of the great, though 
perhaps only temporary, political change, that, for the 
present, enables a Frank to visit these countries openly 
and without disguise, I had never supposed the possi- 
bility of visiting it, — yet there are few places so inter- 
esting, both to the admirer of sacred literature, and the_ 
student of history ; for Bozrah, the northern capital of 
Arabia Provincia under the Romans, and the birth- 
place of the Emperor Philip, is yet more memorable, 
as dear Anne will recollect, in the early annals of the 
Saracens, as the first town the arms of the Caliphs sub- 
dued in Syria; while every one must remember the 
sublime passage in which the name is introduced in 
Scripture, in prophetic reference to a period, now, per- 
haps, not very far distant. 

Our first visit was paid to the castle of Bozrah, to the 
south of the town, outside of the walls, — an immense 
Saracenic pile, of the time of Saladin, built round a 
magnificent Roman Theatre, by far the most interesting 
ruin in Bozrah — and not only round, but in it, for the 
area, or pit, is completely filled with buildings, which 
communicate with the exterior fortress by the ancient 
galleries of the theatre. The diameter of the theatre is 
said to be two hundred and eighty feet ; the plan is 
noble, the decorations are chaste in design, and beau- 
tifully executed, and it is, upon the whole, in excellent 
preservation. The seats were very commodious, flights 
of steps leading to them on each side of the vomitories; 
the uppermost row was surmounted by a beautiful 



BOZRAH. 



295 



colonnade of Doric pillars, many of which are still 
standing. Six Doric semi-columns, continued in a 
line from the colonnade, ornament the upper stories of 
the parascenia, or side-scenes, which remain quite per- 
fect, though the lower stories are concealed by the 
accumulation of more modern building. The space 
between the parascenia has been filled up by the 
Saracen architect with a rude fa9ade, miserably con- 
trasting with the masterly masonry of his Roman pre- 
decessor. Yet there is much beauty in many parts 
of the Saracenic additions ; one of the apartments 
within the area is of very large dimensions, thirty-two 
paces by twenty-three, trebly vaulted, the arches 
springing from two rows, of three massy pillars each, — 
the galleries also of the fortress outside the theatre are 
very noble. 

From the theatre we proceeded to four lofty Corin- 
thian pillars, standing N.E. and S.W., with a consi- 
derable space between the second and third, as if for a 
doorway, but no traces remain of any edifice to which 
it could have belonged. Near these stand two other 
columns, supporting a rich entablature, their shafts out 
of all proportion, — and a third column, a little further 
on, deserves the same censure. 

From thence we proceeded, in the direction of the 
mosque of Omar, down a narrow street, between ruined 
Roman houses. The mosque stands on the left of the 
street; three or four feet only are visible above ground 
of a mean Ionic colonnade that runs beneath it. The 
interior is a heap of ruins, though on the S. and E. 
sides the colonnade is still standing; the pillars are of 
miserable execution, all orders and none, but several 
of them are of beautiful variegated marble, and, from 
inscriptions on the shafts, have evidently been pil- 



296 



BOZRAII. 



laged from some Christian church. The view from the 
minaret is very fine; you enter the staircase by an 
ancient stone door, adopted from some Roman house. 

There are two or three ancient churches and other 
ruins beyond the mosque* — never mind them, and 
turn with me eastward from Omar's mosque to that 
called El Mebrak, outside the town, built by order of 
Othman, at his return from the Hedjaz, on the spot 
where the camel that carried the Koran lav down. 
This celebrated building is now quite in ruins. We 
entered through a plain stone door; it was spanned by 
two handsome arches, from which sprang a dome with 
windows and recesses, now fallen in. Few or none of 
the faithful seem to visit it now. 

Farther eastward of the city are two immense birkets, 
or reservoirs for water, the work, it is said, of the Sara- 
cens, and worthy of any nation. I found the length 
of the most northerly, within its walls, 130 of my long 
paces, and it looked about the same breadth ; the other 
I made 173 by 129. 

* " Opposite to the mosque, on the opposite side of the street, is a 
large vaulted building with niches, built with white and black 
stone intermixed, probably a bath. East of the mosque stands an 
ancient Christian church — the span of the great arch, inside, is beau- 
tiful. The Greek cross is sculptured over the door, and to the left 
of it is inserted a tablet with an inscription. Proceeding north, we 
came to a building square without and circular within, with some 
small dependent chapels — the plan tolerably regular, and crowded 
with windows, of all shapes and sizes— enclosing within its area a 
Christian church, once fronted by columns, and still surmounted by 
a beautiful arch ; this inner church is approached in front by a 
wretched colonnade of four Corinthian columns, and has two Ionic 
on each side, with door- ways opening between them ; the back of 
the choir, or absis, (the roof or dome of which has fallen in) is a 
semi-hexagon. We climbed to the top of this inner church, and 
enjoyed a superb sunset view over the Hauran." Orig. Journal. 
[1847.] 



BOZRAH. 



297 



Between these reservoirs, our guide showed us a 
noble old Roman road, thirty-three of my paces broad, 
and which ran, he told us, straight as a gun, as far as 
Bagdad; no caravans, he said, go by it now, though 
you come to water every day; there are no towns on 
the road, except an old one deserted, and there is no 
peace. — This must be the strata, or paved road, men- 
tioned by Gibbon as extending for ten days' journey 
from Auranitis to Babylonia, and which was appealed 
to, "as an unquestionable evidence of the labours of 
the Romans," in that memorable dispute between the 
Saracen King Almonzar and Aretas, the chief of the 
tribe of Gassan, which precipitated the war between 
Rome and Persia, Justinian and Nushirvan, — a dispute 
about a sheep-walk in the desert south of Palmyra, 
grazed by the Gassanites. ( 41 ) — Mr. Moore told us of 
this " queen of roads," as running from Bozrah to 
Salkhat, and thence, straight as an arrow, (so he 
was informed there,) to Bagdad. It probably ran to 
Seleucia or Ctesiphon, for Bagdad is quite a modern 
town comparatively. What a genius these Romans 
and Saracens had for utility ! 

There is something very sad in the fate of Bozrah, 
The town was strong, garrisoned with twelve thou- 
sand horse — the citizens were brave, and, but for the 
treachery of the Roman governor, might have long 
held out against the Saracens. Suspicious of his loyalty 
from his advice to yield to the enemy, the high-spirited 
citizens deposed him, and chose in his stead the general 
of the garrison, desiring him to challenge Caled, the 
Saracen general, to single combat, which he did. 

When Caled was preparing to go, (I quote poor 
Ockley's narrative,) " Abd'orrahman, the Caliph's son, 
a very young man, but of extraordinary hopes, begged 
of him to let him answer the challenge. Having ob- 



298 BOZRAH. 

tained leave, he mounted his horse, and took his lance, 
which he handled with admirable dexterity, and when 
he came near the governor, he said, 4 Come, thou 
Christian dog, come on!' Then the combat began, 
and, after awhile, the governor, finding himself worsted, 
having a better horse than the Saracen, ran away and 
made his escape to the army. Abd'orrahman, heartily 
vexed that his enemy had escaped, fell upon the rest, 
sometimes charging upon the right hand, sometimes 
upon the left, making way wherever he went. Caled 
and the rest of the officers followed him, and the battle 
grew hot between the Saracens and the miserable 
inhabitants of Bostra, who were at their last struggle 
for their fortunes, their liberty, their religion, and 
whatsoever was dear to them, and had now seen the 
last day dawn in which they were ever to call anything 
their own, without renouncing their baptism. The 
Saracens fought like lions, and Caled, their general, 
still cried out, ' Alhamlah ! Alhamlah ! Aljannah ! Al- 
jannah !' that is, c Fight ! Fight! Paradise! Paradise!' 
The town was all in an uproar, the bells rung, and the 
priests and monks ran about the streets, making excla- 
mations, and calling upon God ; but all was too late, 
for his afflicting Providence had determined to deliver 
them into the hands of their enemies. 

" Caled and Serjabil (for the Saracens could pray as 
well as fight, and England, as well as Arabia, has had 
some that could do so too) said, ' 0 God ! these vile 
wretches pray with idolatrous expressions, and take to 
themselves another God besides thee ; but we acknow- 
ledge thy unity, and affirm that there is no other God 
but thee alone ; help us, we beseech thee, for the sake 
of thy Prophet, Mahomet, against these Idolaters ! ' 

" The battle continued for some time ; at last the 
poor Christians were forced to give way, and leave the 



BOZRAH. 



299 



field to the victorious Saracens, who lost only two hun- 
dred and thirty men. The besieged retired as fast as 
they could, and shut up the gates, and set up their 
banners and standards with the sign of the cross upon 
the walls, intending to write speedily to the Grecian 
Emperor for more assistance." 

That night, however, as Abd'orrahman, who was the 
officer on guard, went his rounds, he saw a man come 
out of the city, " with a camlet coat on, wrought with 
gold." He instantly levelled his lance — " Hold !" cried 
the man, " I am Romanus, the ex-governor — bring me 
before Caled the general." — He came to say (treacherous 
dog !) that he had ordered his sons and seiwants to dig 
a hole in the wall, (for his house stood upon the town- 
wall,) and that he was ready to introduce any number 
of trusty men into the city. Caled forthwith despatched 
Abd'orrahman with a hundred Saracens ; Romanus in- 
troduced them through the breach, entertained them 
in his house, and disguised them in the Christian 
uniform. 

" Then Abd'orrahman divided them into four parts, 
five-and-twenty in a company, and ordered them to go 
into' different streets of the city, and commanded them, 
that as soon as they heard him and those that were 
with him cry out, 6 Allah Akbar !' they should do so 
too. Then Abd'orrahman asked Romanus where the 
governor was which fought with him and ran away 
from him ? Romanus proffered his services to show 
him, and away they marched together to the castle, 
attended with five-and-twenty Musselmans. When 
they came there, the governor asked Romanus, what 
he came for r Who answered, that he had no business 
of his own, but only came to wait upon a friend of his, 
that had a great desire to see him. ' Friend of mine V 
says the governor — t What friend V 6 Only your friend 



300 



BOZRAH. 



Abd'orrahman,' said Romanus, f is come to send you to 
hell ! ' The unhappy governor, finding himself be- 
trayed, endeavoured to make his escape. c Nay, hold !' 
says Abd'orrahman, 6 though you ran away from me 
once in the daytime, you must not serve me so again,' 
and struck him with his sword and killed him. As he 
fell, Abd'orrahman cried out, 6 Allah Akbar !' the Sara- 
cens, which were below, hearing it, did so too ; so did 
those who were dispersed about the streets, that there 
was nothing but 6 Allah Akbar !' heard round about 
the city. Then those Saracens which were disguised 
killed the guards, opened the gates, and let in Caled 
with his whole army. The town being now entirely 
lost, the conquering Saracens fell upon the inhabitants, 
and killed and made prisoners all they met with ; till, 
at last, the chief men of the city came out of their 
houses and churches, and cried, f Quarter ! quarter !* 
The general, Caled, immediately commanded them to 
kill no more, 6 for,' said he, 6 the Apostle of God used 
to say, If any one be killed after he has cried out, 
quarter ! 'tis none of my fault.' 

" Thus was the condition of Bostra altered on a 
sudden, and they, which had been before a wealthy 
and flourishing people, were now brought under the 
Saracenical yoke, and could enjoy the Christian pro- 
fession upon no other terms than paying tribute."* 

Bozrah was very nearly retaken by the Christians, and 
in precisely the same manner, five hundred and thirteen 
years afterwards, when the Turks were in occupation 
of Syria. As the expedition to Wady Mousa was the 
first, so this to Bostra was the second enterprise of 
Baldwin the Third of Jerusalem, then in his fifteenth 
year, — the graceful, affable, wise, generous, gallant 

* History of the Saracens, vol. i, p. 27, sqq. edit. 1757. 



BOZRAH. 301 



young prince, whom William of Tyre speaks of with 
such affectionate enthusiasm (and with such candour 
too) in his charming history. Imagine him seated be- 
side his mother Melisenda, in his palace-hall at Jeru- 
salem, giving audience to a noble Armenian, the 
Governor of Bozrah, who, having fallen under the dis- 
pleasure of Ainard, Regent of Damascus, and appre- 
hending punishment, had come to offer to deliver up 
that city and the dependent town of Salkhud to the 
Christians. 

The Council assembled to debate on this proposition. 
That the recapture of a town so important to the 
Christian cause as Bozrah could not but be agreeable 
to God, was assumed at once as unquestionable. But 
then, most unfortunately, a truce subsisted between the 
King and the Soldan— how could they break it with- 
out dishonour ? They struck a medium by accepting 
the offer of the Governor and summoning the lieges to 
attend the royal banner to Bozrah, and by sending the 
Regent word of their intentions, that he might prepare 
for his defence. Within a few days, the chivalry of 
Palestine were assembled at the bridge over the Jordan 
above the Lake of Tiberias, and, at the expiration of a 
month, they started for Bozrah, the venerable Arch- 
bishop of Nazareth, with a fragment of the true Cross, 
attending them, to ensure a blessing on the enterprise. 

Ainard, meanwhile, an excellent man, who had 
always shown himself friendly to the Christians, and 
sincerely desired peace, had offered to pay all their 
expenses, if they would abandon their unjust enter- 
prise — for unjust it was ; many — the wisest of the 
Franks— disapproved of it, and urged the acceptance 
of these terms, but all in vain — the voice of the multi- 
tude carried the day. They little knew what a force 
Ainard had assembled to oppose them. 



302 



BOZRAH. 



Traversing the deep valley of Roob, the Christian 
army entered the plain Medan, ( 42 ) and were instantly 
surrounded by swarms of Turks and Arabs, far more 
numerous than they had expected, and who kept up 
such an incessant shower of darts and arrows, that 
those who had been most ardent for the expedition 
would now willingly have given it up, and retraced their 
steps. They determined, notwithstanding, to proceed 
boldly towards Bozrah, deeming it shameful to retreat, 
and impossible, even were they willing to incur such a 
disgrace. 

Slowly and painfully they toiled on all the next day, 
yet still in good courage, the enemy hovering around 
and harassing them, but finding no opportunity of 
breaking their close columns, the knights kept guard 
over them so carefully. Indeed, says the Chronicler, 
high and low, knights and men-at-arms, they were 
united in love as if but one man. The knights took 
the tenderest care of their comrades on foot, often leap- 
ing from their horses to assist them in their duty, or 
relieve them by a ride when faint and fatigued. The 
heat of the weather, the weight of their armour, the 
blinding, choking dust, burning thirst, and the scanty 
supplies in the water-tanks — all poisoned too by the 
putrified bodies of locusts — completed their hardships. 

They arrived that evening, about sunset, at Adrate, 
the Edrei of Og King of Bashan — the ' city of Bernard 
d'Etampes' of the Crusaders — and after two days more 
of unparalleled sufferings, marching under a constant 
hail of arrows and missiles of every description, the 
enemy seemingly multiplying every hour, and every 
hour their own strength failing — they reached Bozrah, 
and after chasing the enemy from the springs near the 
Bab el Howa, as it is now called, or the western gate 



BOZRAH. 



303 



of the city, pitched their tents there and lay down, 
anxiously hoping for the morrow. 

But, alas ! in the middle of the deep silence of the 
night, a man came out from the city, traversed the 
enemy's camp, and came to the Christian army, desir- 
ing to speak with the king. The princes assembled, 
and the Armenian noble, who had conducted the Franks 
through so many dangers, was also called in ; when 
the messenger announced that the city was already in 
the hands of the enemy, having been given up to Nou- 
reddin, the illustrious son-in-law of the Regent Ainard, 
by the wife of the very man who had offered to betray 
it!— Thus ended their hopes of Bozrah! 

Sad and disappointed, and in despair of making good 
their retreat, their first anxiety was to ensure their 
young king's safety, and, drawing him aside, the prin- 
cipal nobles implored him to take the fragment of the 
true Cross, and a horse belonging to Sire Jean Gomain, 
the fleetest and strongest in the army, and save himself 
by flight. " No," cried the gallant boy, with the spirit 
of Saint Louis, — " never will I save myself, and leave 
the people of God to perish so miserably!" 

Nerved by despair, and animated by the very diffi- 
culties that surrounded them, these brave men com- 
menced their retreat at daybreak, cutting irresistibly 
through every battalion that attempted to impede them, 
and carrying their weak and wounded men on camels, 
that the Turks, seeing no proofs of their arrows having 
taken effect, might believe them the men of iron they 
really were, and thus be discouraged. This expedient, 
however, suggested a worse annoyance — setting fire to 
the thorns and dry stubble of the country ; the wind 
blew towards the Christians, — scorched by the flames, 
blinded and choked by the smoke, hope sunk in 



S04 



BOZRAH. 



their hearts. P Pray for us," cried they, turning 
with streaming eyes to the grey-haired Archbishop — 
" pray for us ! " He did so, extending the cross towards 
the enemy, and, lo ! the wind changed in a moment, 
and blew back the flames and smoke on the enemy ! 

Another incident much encouraged them at this 
juncture. Four illustrious Arab brothers, with their 
followers, had joined the Turks, and, hovering on the 
flank of the Christian army, terribly harassed them by 
their repeated flying attacks, which they endured with- 
out resenting, as everything depended on their keeping 
their ranks and maintaining the strictest discipline. 
At last, however, one of the followers of the ex- 
governor, losing his patience, broke from the ranks, 
and, spurring his horse, fell sword in hand on one of 
the Arab brothers, struck him down on the spot, and 
retired in perfect safety among his companions. Amidst 
the groans of the Turks, and the involuntary applause 
of the Christians, he must have died the death of young 
Manlius, lad not his being a foreigner, and ignorant of 
the language in which the order not to quit the ranks 
had been issued, pleaded his excuse and secured his 
pardon. 

They had now, after five days' march, arrived once 
more at the Valley of Roob, but, fearful of ambuscades, 
hesitated on entering so dangerous a pass. That there 
was another and a safer road over the mountains they 
knew, but were lamenting their ignorance of the country 
and want of a guide, when suddenly an unknown 
knight, mounted on a white steed, and carrying a red 
banner, became visible at the head of the army, — 
whence he came they knew not — whither he led they 
followed. Taking the shortest roads, halting always 
at fountains till then unheard of, and pointing out with 
unerring sagacity the fittest places for encampment, he 



BOZRAH. 



305 



conducted them, says the historian, like the Angel of 
the God of Hosts, for three days, as far as Gadara — 
the Oom Keis evidently, from his description, of the 
present day ; and on the morrow, weary and worn out, 
they arrived at Tiberias. — No one, adds William of 
Tyre, knew their guide ; as soon as they arrived at the 
place where they were to encamp, he suddenly 
vanished — " like a blink of the sun or a whip of the 
whirlwind," as Lindsay of Pitscottie would have added 
— and no one saw him again till he re-appeared on the 
morrow at the head of the army. 

No man living, concludes the chronicler, remembers 
an expedition of such peril to the Christians, and yet 
of such little positive advantage to the Infidels, since 
the Latins established themselves in the East.* 

Two curious pages these in the history of Bozrah ! 
A few years afterwards, the citizens, of their own ac- 
cord, submitted to Saladin, and little or nothing is 
known of her history — at least, from Frank authorities 
—intermediate between that event, and Burckhardt's 
visit in 1812. 

Bozrah is now for the most part a heap of ruins, a 
most dreary spectacle ; here and there the direction of 
a street or alley is discernible, but that is all; the 
modern inhabitants — a mere handful — are almost lost 
in the maze of ruins. Olive-trees grew here within a 
few years, they told us — they are extinct now, like the 
vines for which the Bostra of the Romans was famous. — 
And such, in the nineteenth century, and under Moslem 
rule, is the condition of a city which, even in the seventh 
century, at the time of its capture by the Saracens, was 
called by Caled " the market-place of Syria, Irak,t and 
the Hedjaz." — " For I have sworn by myself, saith the 

* History of the Crusades, book 16. 
t Mesopotamia. 
X 



306 



SUED A. 



Lord of Hosts, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, 

a reproach, a waste, and a curse ; and all the cities 
thereof shall be perpetual wastes !" And it is so.* ( 4S ) 

From Bozrah, — passing the remains of fifteen towns 
on the right and left — (on the eastern declivity of 
Gebel Hauran there are above two hundred in ruins, 
at a quarter or half an hour's distance from each other) f 
—we rode to Ere, or Aere, and thence to Sueda, the 
capital of the Druses of the Hauran, in rather more 
than five hours. J We halted under a Doric tomb, the 
chief curiosity of the place ; a solid heavy mass of 
building, ornamented with six semi-columns on each 
side, — the intercolumniations sculptured with coats of 

* Dr. Robinson thinks that the village el-Busaireh, a diminutive 
of Bozrah, between Tufileh and Kerek esh Shobek, N. of Petra, was 
probably the ancient capital of Edom,* spoken of by the prophets 
Isaiah and Amoz, and elsewhere in the Old Testament. B. Re- 
searches, vol. ii, p. 570. — Granting this, the prophecy in the text 
would equally have received its fulfilment. [1847.] 

f Burckhardt. 

X An extract from my original journal, descriptive of the ride 
from Bozrah to Aere and Sueda, will give a better idea of the rapid 
succession of objects in this singular region than aught else can do, 
short of an actual visit : — " Started at 17 min. p. 7, with a guide, 
for Aera or Ere— passed successively the Bab el Howa, or western 
gate, the springs, the spot where Ibrahim Pasha's troops encamped, 
and the dry bed of the Djedeir, — fine view of Bozrah, looking back — 
you see all the public buildings in succession, the castle, the four 
tall pillars, the similar group of tw r o, the mosque of Omar, the upper 
windows of the church, and the mosque El Mebrak. At 5 m. p. 8, 
reach Gummarm, Ghiman, Murre, as the town was indifferently 
named to us — a brook runs W. and 1ST. of it — on the right, entering, 
a house two or three stories high, with windows just like a ruined 
English one — stopped to examine the last house in the town, three 
stories above an entrance hall, marked externally by a cornice, the 
hall entered by an archway, ornamented with a slab (bearing an 



* As distinguished from the Bostra, joint capital with Petra of Arabia Pro- 
vincia, under the Romans. [1847.] 



SUEDA. 



307 



mail, shields, (round, and oval — with a boss in the 
centre, like the hippopotamus-hide bucklers of Nubia,) 
and helmets. On the east of the town are the ruins of 
a fine temple, surrounded by a peristyle, of which ten 
columns are still erect ; the capitals, singularly enough, 
are of overlapping palm-leaves. The temple itself is 
quite ruined ; two fine doorways, in a line with each 
other, are buried almost to the lintels, — and fragments 
of a beautiful frieze of grapes and vine-leaves lie near 
them. The principal street of the town descends in a 
south-westerly direction; near its commencement stands 
a very neat semicircular building, facing the south, — a 
semi-dome, with a large and two smaller niches under 

Arabic inscription, probably of more recent date) of white stone 
surmounted by a graceful scroll, with two other friezes on either 
side, all taken from some older building. Crossed the brook by the 
ancient bridge of three arches, beyond which we crossed an ancient 
paved road. At 5 m. to 9, past Deir Zebeir, close to the right. At 
10 m. p. 9, Wate, a ruined site, at some distance to the right, and 
Karaba, G-hobte, and Alii, to the left, — and subsequently, Ghuzzan to 
the right. — At | p. 9, pass Mujaimi to the right, situated on a round 
hill ; and some time afterwards pass through the eastern extremity 
of Ere, built on the slope of a hill, and commanding a beautiful view 
of the Hauran, bounded by the snowy Gebel Sheikh, — cross the 
brook of Ere, and at 15 m. to 10, pass Shakeh, a ruined site, to the 
left, close to the road. At 11, have Zehhow, Kherebet Risheh, Eesas, 
and Errahha to the right, all situated between the road and the Gebel 
Hauran — Sueda in front, rising on (apparently) the farthest project- 
ing point of the Gebel Hauran. At 20 m. p. 11, cross the dry Wady 
Thaleth, — at 17 m. to 12, through the village Omjeda, where we 
saw some Druse women, — at 6 m. p. 12, cross the dry bed of a brook, 
and begin ascending the lower part of the town of Sueda. At 15 m. 
p. 12, turning out of the road to the left, visited remains of a large 
church to the S. of Sueda, — going down a few steps, a sort of altar 
or font, covered with votive offerings — some pomegranate-trees in 
flower growing round the walls. At £ p. 12, cross the town wall, 
and proceeding through the town, crossing a dry rivulet, reach and 
halt, exactly at 1, under a Doric tomb, the chief curiosity of Sueda," 
&c. [1847.] 

x 2 



308 



ATEEL. 



it, separated by Corinthian pilasters. From this build- 
ing we followed the course of the ancient street to its 
termination — between rows of Roman houses in ruins, 
opening by arches on the street, the ancient pavement 
remaining in excellent preservation wherever visible, 
but the street is in many places choked up with rub- 
bish, and we then clambered over the roofs, and through 
the apartments of the old houses ; fig-trees grow wild 
among them. 

We started about a quarter past four — a lovely 
evening — for Ateel ; nothing could be more delightful 
than the weather all the time we were in the Hauran, 
— sunny, but not too hot, — with fresh westerly breezes. 
The ascent to Ateel, through prickly-oak bushes, is 
very pretty; the young Druse Sheikh, who was superin- 
tending the harvest, came up, and, saluting us, led the 
way to the village, never questioning our intention of 
staying with him all night ; we explained our wish of 
proceeding to Kennawat, and he acquiesced with the 
civil regret of a finished gentleman. We reached El 
Kasr, as he called the little temple south of the town, 
at half-past five ; it is the most beautiful little building 
I saw in the Hauran ; the portico is supported by two 
Corinthian pillars, the portal adorned with beautifully 
sculptured friezes of vine-leaves, and the cornice is very 
handsome. Niches, with semi-domes sculptured like 
shells, relieve the deadness of the wall on each side of 
the door. A Druse family live in the temple. The other 
El Kasr, or temple, to the north of the town, is neat, 
but far inferior to this. The Druses here struck us as 
particularly respectable and gentlemanlike. 

We reached Kennawat in three quarters of an hour, 
by a stony ascent overgrown with prickly-oak bushes — 
(ever since leaving Sueda we had been advancing into 



KENNAWAT. 309 

the Gebel Hauran) — and encamped on a smooth green- 
sward, close to the ruins of a beautiful Corinthian 
edifice, raised on a platform supported by arches, — 
standing east and west, and commanding a most mag- 
nificent view over the plain of the Hauran ; Mount 
Hermon, with his crown of snow, towering, as usual, in 
the distance. The sun went down a few minutes after we 
arrived — a ball of fire, gorgeous indeed — and such were 
all the sunsets we saw in this country. Of the temple, 
tomb, or whatever it was, seven columns are still stand- 
ing round a central platform, which perhaps supported 
an altar open to the sky ; the capitals and bases are 
well sculptured, but neither capitals nor diameters are 
uniform, — none, I think, in the Hauran are so. 

Next morning the venerable Druse Sheikh ciceroned 
us over the ruins of Kennawat, — it is entirely a Druse 
population. Ascending to the village, we proceeded 
in a southerly direction along an ancient paved street, 
commanding a very pleasing view of the valley, on the 
western bank of which Kennawat is built. Passing a 
plain ancient temple, we crossed a beautiful paved area, 
in singular preservation, to an extraordinary building, 
called Deir Eyonb, where we were shown a dark semi- 
vaulted chapel, or rather hole in the wall, as the tomb 
of Neby Eyoub — the prophet Job. 

A low door, to the east, ushered us into a wretched 
colonnade, of no order at all, and this into another 
pillared piazza, (equally execrable,) by one of the 
most beautiful doorways I ever saw, — a piece of patch- 
work, indeed, the door-case being composed of a 
superb frieze, broken up, and adapted to the spoiler's 
purpose by the interposition of two wretched Corinthian 
pilaster capitals. Mr. Moore showed us a beautiful 
drawing of it at Jerusalem. It was probably stolen 



310 



SHOABA. 



from a fine temple to the south of the Deir — but you 
will be sick of temples ; I will spare you as many 
as in conscience I can. 

We returned by the way we came — traces of the 
ancient pavement are to be seen in every direction, 
often as perfect as when first laid down. 

We reached Shoaba, another Druse town, in about 
three hours, and, entering by the southern gate, rode 
for ten minutes up a broad handsome street, better 
paved, and the pavement in better preservation, than 
any in London — as far as four oblong masses of 
masonry, quite plain and solid, and probably sur- 
mounted, like those of Jerash and Palmyra, by statues 
or columns. Here, at the intersection of the streets, 
we turned westwards, up the principal street of the 
city ; the public buildings lie on each side of it. We 
first came to five fine Corinthian pillars, the survivors 
of the colonnade of a temple, of which part of the 
back-w r all is the only remnant, — then to a square build- 
ing in ruins, now a mosque, with a beautiful pavement 
in front of it ; not only the streets, but all the open 
spaces, or piazzas, in these towns were paved. Ap- 
proaching an arcade, thrown across the street, we 
turned, through a door in the wall, southwards, and 
had, immediately on our right, an extraordinary octagon 
building, and, in front of us, a plain square edifice, its 
entrance blocked up with very large stones. Imme- 
diately behind it stands the theatre, small and quite 
plain, but solidly built, and the buildings behind the 
stage almost perfect. 

Returning to the main street, we found the Druse 
Sheikh under the arcade, and got some useful informa- 
tion from him about the roads. This arcade runs some 
distance westwards, with recesses in its walls, but not 
deep or wide enough for burial places, as Burckhardt 



NEDJRAUN. 



311 



thought, nor, if they were so, could they have been in- 
tended for such — in the middle of the town as these 
are. The pavement of the street, above and below the 
arcade, is beautiful. There is nothing of interest be- 
yond it. The streets are regularly laid out and dis- 
tinctly traceable, and many of the houses are in very 
good preservation. 

Nedjraun, which we reached in the evening, is sur- 
rounded by a perfect labyrinth of rocks,— broad sheets 
and rugged masses, like the bottom of the crater of 
Vesuvius, inside, as I found it in 1830, than anything 
else to which I could compare them. Rocks of the 
same description extend all over that part of the 
country, skirting the Ledja, or stony district of the 
Hauran, ancient Trachonitis. 

Next morning, Dr. Mac Lennan and I walked up to 
the town, in search of the Roman mansion mentioned 
by Mr. Bankes in his interesting letter to Mr. Bucking- 
ham, published in the appendix to that gentleman's 
travels. It proved highly interesting, having evidently 
belonged to one of the chief men of the place. The 
plan is seen at a glance, though modern buildings 
have intruded themselves into its spacious court, and 
the front-gate, by which that court was entered, has dis- 
appeared. 

The court was probably nearly square ; the house- 
door, nearly buried, occupies the centre of the front; 
there is a square window above it, with a slit between 
it and the door, and two other windows, one on each 
side. To the right and left of the principal door are 
two other doors, each of which opens on a moderately 
sized apartment, each lighted by one of the side 
windows above-mentioned. The entrance-hall, eleven 
paces wide by about eight and a half deep, and spanned 
by a beautiful arch, communicated, till the door was 



312 



ROMAN MANSION. 



walled up, with the chamber to the left of the hall, 
which I entered from the court. From the chamber to 
the right of the hall, a stone staircase ascended to the 
upper story of the mansion. Externally, a plain 
moulding marks the separation of the stories. The 
upper rooms are small, very numerous, and still in- 
habited. Nothing could exceed the courtesy of the 
owners in showing us their dwellings, and allowing us 
to pry wherever we liked. The upper story recedes 
the depth of the hall, leaving a small terrace, on which 
the doors of the several apartments open. The wings 
are also full of rooms ; the ground-floor of that to the 
right is, in great part, occupied by a beautiful stable, 
with mangers of stone, ten paces long by nine deep, 
and spanned from right to left by a beautiful arch 
The Arabs stable their steeds this very day where the 
old Romans did. The whole mansion is extremely 
well built, of hewn stone, plain and substantial, — and 
all the rooms are entire. On the road to this house I 
hastily copied — (too hastily, for in this and many 
other instances I depended on Burckhardf s having pre- 
ceded me, whereas he seems never to have been at 
Nedjraun) an inscription in Greek hexameters, com- 
memorative, so far as I can make it out, of Tironus, 
" the eloquent and the happy," having built a new 
tomb for himself, in order that when, obedient to the 
common necessity of death, his soul should join the 
company of immortals, his dead body might sleep 
alone and apart from others under the palm-trees in 
front of his hall. His wish belies him, — he cannot 
surely have been a happy man. ( 44 ) 

Starting from Nedjraun at twenty-three minutes to 
seven, we reached Ezra at eleven, — one of the most 
interesting towns of Auranitis, and one of the very 
few of which we know the ancient name, Zarava. We 



EZRA. 



313 



took up our quarters in an old Roman house, one of 
the ordinary sort, quite perfect except two fractures in 
the roof, and unoccupied. The town is of great ex- 
tent, and the houses were in much better preservation 
than any we had yet seen ; we walked between whole 
streets of them, seemingly in good repair, and almost 
all untenanted. But there is no pavement, and the 
masonry, generally speaking, is of a very inferior de- 
scription. 

To the south-east of the town, is a row of houses 
which have evidently belonged to the grandees of the 
place; they are now called the Palace of the Yellow 
King, i, e. the Emperor of Russia, — and our guide 
pretended to point out the harem, &c, &c. They are 
all in ruins ; the plan, however, of the most perfect is 
still traceable. Entering a large courtyard, you pass 
to the house door, and, through it, into a large arched 
hall, with five recesses at the further end— taking up, 
with two smaller rooms on the right and left, and the 
upper story, the whole front facade; the room to the 
left of the hall, which has no direct communication 
with it, is furnished with a double row of square cup- 
boards all round like cellars ; indeed there are recesses 
(cupboards, surely) innumerable in most of the rooms 
of this and other houses of the country. The wing to 
the left is all in ruins, but probably corresponded to that 
on the right, which is perfect (externally) and built 
with exact symmetry — two doors of entrance, (pre- 
cisely corresponding, in height and width, to those of 
England,) between two vaulted niches, or rather false 
doors, with three windows ranging over each door, — 
and a smaller door at each extremity of the wing, over 
which a staircase was carried outside the building to 
the roof — always flat in the East The rooms in this 
wing resemble those in the front, — most of them about 



314 EZRA. 

eight paces square; staircases, projecting from the 
walls of many of the apartments, led to the upper 
story. 

Dr. Mac Lennan, my companion in this exploration, 
leaving me here, I went on, with Hassan and an Arab 
guide, in search of a mansion which he said he could 
show me, kebeer, kebeer ! ! large, large — and quite per- 
fect. He led the way down alleys, up streets, through 
ruined arches, and over the roofs of houses, now in 
this direction, now that, till in about ten minutes or a 
quarter of an hour, after I had lost all idea where- 
abouts I was, I found myself in the courtyard of a 
large house, which well repaid me for the trouble of 
my walk, being all but perfect and quite unoccupied. 
The plan is very irregular, — the court five sided, arched 
chambers, generally about eight paces square, opening 
into it ; the second, on the right, appears to have been 
the stable, — there is a manger for three or four horses, 
and the corner of the room, built round in the seg- 
ment of a circle, served for a water-trough. The 
rooms in the upper story are small, with plenty of 
cupboards. Two staircases were carried outside the 
building, from the farthest angles of the court, to the 
roof, which on four sides is quite perfect, and carpeted 
with grass. From this elevation I saw the roofs of - 
numberless smaller houses, quite entire and just as 
green. The house is well and solidly built, though 
not with the elegance and symmetry of that at Nedj- 
raun. It stands to the right of a ruined church called 
Deir Wali. I think, as architects, you and my father 
will be interested with these descriptions, if I have 
made them intelligible. 

We slept at Tebne that night, and visited Sun- 
amein the following morning, to see a temple which 
Mr. Bankes considered the prettiest in the Hauran. 



EXPEDITION TO PALMYRA. 



315 



Ii is pretty, but he could not, I think, have been at 
Ateel. 

We pushed on to Kessoue that evening, nine hours 
from Tebne, having nothing to eat, our rice having 
failed us, — the latter part of the journey was across a 
dreary wilderness of large black stones ; and reached 
Damascus in three hours the next morning, Saturday 
the 3rd of June, — the twenty-third day from Jerusalem. 

Section III. 

We called on Mr. Farren in the evening, to inquire 
whether we could start for Palmyra on Monday, — not 
before Tuesday, he said, for it would be advisable to 
take a guard of five or six soldiers, that we might be 
ostensibly under the protection of Government. Till 
Ibrahim Pasha's recent conquest of Syria, the Bedouin 
chiefs were in the custom of receiving large sums from 
travellers for permission to visit the ruins, and for 
escort during the journey. Two or three recent visi- 
tants had bjen robbed, though not otherwise ill-treated, 
and it appeared to me not unlikely that the Arabs 
wished to frighten travellers back again into the old 
system of purchasing their protection. But we had no 
idea either of playing false to the Pasha or giving up 
Tadmor ; Mr. Farren declared the route perfectly safe, 
and we found it so. 

Mr. Pell, of Devonshire — Mr. Alewyn, a Dutch gen- 
tleman — and Mr. Schranz, a German artist travelling 
with them, had just arrived at Damascus from Greece 
and Asia Minor. I met them on Sunday morning, and, 
finding they had entertained the intention of visiting 
Palmyra, but given up all hope of it, in consequence 
of the smallness of their number, I proposed their 
joining us, — and we found them most agreeable, en- 



316 



EXPEDITION TO PALMYRA. 



lightened companions. Pell is an Oxford man, of a 
generous inquiring spirit, fond of the fine arts and an- 
tiquity; Alewyn, thoroughly our countryman in feeling, 
and very amiable, speaks English perfectly, and enjoys 
Shakespeare ; Schranz was born at Majorca, of German 
parents, and brought up at Malta, — speaks German, 
Spanish, Italian, and Maltese, (a dialect of Arabic, by 
which he can make himself easily understood bv the 
natives here,) as his mother-tongues, — Greek, and un- 
commonly good English, — besides being a most accom- 
plished draughtsman. Mr. Davey, an English gentle- 
man residing at Damascus, also joined us. 

We formed, therefore, a very numerous caravan, 
mustering, when fairly embarked on the desert, seven 
gentlemen, four servants, two muleteers, four camel- 
drivers, five Turkish soldiers, — bestriding twenty-one 
horses and mules, two donkeys, and five camels. But 
numbers are little thought of among the Bedouins ; 
they reckon by the number of guns, and ours were 
well eyed and accurately counted in the course of the 
journey. I should not be surprised if the absence of 
the greater part of the Bedouins in the Hauran at this 
season, and our being so numerous and well-armed a 
party, contributed more than we are aware of to our 
success in this expedition. The soldiers we found a 
great incumbrance, but their five guns were valuable 
for show, — on leaving Karietein, the last inhabited 
place till you get to Palmyra, two days beyond it, they 
desired us to take a guard of twelve Bedouins — and, 
on our absolute la, no ! refused to proceed any further, 
so we went off without them ; they followed soon after- 
wards, but were in great alarm, cowardly dogs — bullies, 
too, as they were, like all cowards ; Clarke gave one of 
them a good licking for flinging a stone at the leg of a 



KARIETEIN. 317 

poor Bedouin who was guiding us, — the slave fawned 
like a spaniel afterwards. 

At Karietein we hired the five camels enumerated in 
the above list, with their drivers, and loaded them with 
twenty skins of water, there being none on the road 
between that place and Tadmor. Were I to go again, 
I would ride dromedaries the whole way ; one would 
reach the goal in half the time, and avoid a great deal 
of trouble in hiring skins, serving out water to the 
horses, and most disagreeable of all — restricting the 
men from drinking too much ; they have no providence, 
the present moment is all they think of, and their lips 
are generally glued to the zumzummias. We slept in 
a deserted garden at Karietein.* The belladeen here- 
abouts have much of the look and spirit of Bedouins, 
but the bitterest enmity and constant warfare exist be- 
tween the two races. 

Beyond Karietein, f the track lies through a desert 

* Kirjathaim, Heb. 
t The preceding account being very brief and unmethodical, 
I subjoin an extract from my journal, describing the journey thus 
far to Palmyra : — 

. " Tuesday, 6th June. — Our guards not having returned to the 
convent, we started without them at 3, riding for a considerable time 
through the beautiful plantations that engirdle Damascus. We 
then followed a line of barren hills, of no very great elevation, de- 
scending from Antilibanus, behind which the sun set in great beauty. 
Halted nearly an hour afterwards near the village Adra, where we 
found excellent water, but the ground was damp, marshy, and foggy 
— we were quite wet in the tent at night, the dew was so heavy — 
malaria is very prevalent here. 

" Wednesday, 7th June. — William, having passed a bad night, and 
not feeling well this morning, returned to Damascus with a guide. 
The road here turns up into the mountains — very bleak and desert- 
like. About an hour beyond the village Katifi, reached another 
named Ul Haibi, where we lunched in a public building — unlike an 
ordinary khan, but which could only be intended for strangers, con- 



318 PALMYRA. 

valley, perhaps ten miles broad, called Wady Kebeer, 
or the Great Wady, — sand and stone mixed, and very 
scantily clothed with shrubs of a dirty clay colour — no 
variety. We marched eleven hours till six o'clock 
p.m. ; slept, dined, drank tea, and slept again till mid- 
night, and then rode on by starlight till sunrise, when 
we rested again for two hours, and breakfasted, — five 
hours more, and then Palmyra ! The long range of 
hills became more irregular and picturesque, and, as 
we ascended the Wady, appeared to meet at its termi- 
nation ; they are separated, however, by the valley of 
tombs — the cemetery of Palmyra — bare and glaring to 
the eye ; the tombs on the hills, lofty towers, had for 
hours been conspicuous on the horizon. 

sisting of a court, stalls for horses, an open divan, and a single apart- 
ment, all very neat and clean. Many Bedouins and villagers came 
to look at us, and count our guns. Beyond Ul Haibi we proceeded 
over the hills, two Anezee Bedouins preceding us on horseback with 
their long spears — through a valley, with a salt lake on the right, 
and Xasaria, a ruined town on the other side of it. We stopped, 
after about five hours, (a long range of blue hills on the right,) 
at Jeriid, a village prettily surrounded by orchards, almost invisible 
behind their high walls. We found our guards here, who had ridden 
on thus far without stopping, on learning we had left Damascus. 
We asked Alewyn to share our tent, as he was suffering from a 
severe cold, and Pell's was less comfortable, — we dined in it alto- 
gether, a large party. A delightful day. 

" Thursday, Sth June. — Bitter cold night — saturated with the dew. 
Started at sunrise — in about an hour came to the village Unta, and 
got a Bedouin as a guide — passed an Anezee camp on the move, the 
only encampment of Bedouins we saw on the route. The belladeen 
here have much the look of Bedouins, wearing the kefieh, &c, but 
bitter enmity subsists between them, particularly near Karietein. 
Proceeded for some hours through a broad desert Wady, covered 
with shrubs — few incidents — a soldier licks the Bedouin, for which 
Clarke licks the soldier — the valley gradually expands, and we cross 
a rising ground of considerable length before we reach Karietein, 
after about twelve hours' ride, exclusive of stoppages and time lost on 



PALMYRA. 



319 



Presently, emerging from the valley, we came at 
once in sight of Palmyra, her countless columns of 
white marble ranging over the plain in distinct sym- 
metrical colonnades, with the boundless desert 
stretching far, far away beyond them towards the 
Euphrates, — the most magnificent field of ruins I ever 
witnessed ; you remember how I used to pore over 
the folio engravings of Palmyra at Muncaster ? the 
word has been music to my ear ever since, — the report, 
however, of some later travellers made me dread being 
disappointed, so that it was with fear, as well as 
curiosity, that I drew near to the goal my wishes had 
so long pointed to ; great and joyous was my disap- 
pointment ; I shall never forget the first sight of the 
ruins ; I know nothing to liken it to — it must be seen ; 

the road. Halted, as last night, in a deserted garden. Sent for the 
Sheikh, and presenting our teskeray, engaged five camels with four 
drivers, and fourteen waterskins, each holding seven or eight basons- 
fall, in addition to six we had brought from Damascus. For twenty- 
four hours, we were told, we should find no water. 

"Friday, 9th June, — Started about six. The soldiers wished us 
to take twelve Bedouins as a guard. — 1 No.' — Stayed behind, and said 
they would not come — went off without them — they followed soon 
afterwards. Broad desert plain bounded by hills, — to the right, 
rather a picturesque range. At seven hours from Karietein arrived 
at Khan Khair, the ruins of a lofty tower sculptured with Maltese 
crosses. At a saddle-backed mountain two hours to the right from 
this tower, is a spring of excellent water, called Ain Woon ; by 
keeping nearer the southern side of the valley travellers might make 
it a convenient halting place, — we were told, however, that the 
spring yields but little water, and was some distance up the moun- 
tain. We lunched at the tower, and then proceeded along the valley 
— the ground of sand and stone mixed, and very scantily clothed 
with shrubs of a dirty clay colour, very little variety— the hills that 
bound it probably eight or ten miles apart — they call it Wady Ke- 
beer, or the Great Valley. . . . , The mirage was seen this 
morning very distinctly, resembling a lake with an island in it." &c. 
[1847.J 



320 



PALMYRA. 



I felt no fatigue at Palmyra, and oh ! the luxury of 
remembrance ! 

Descending to the plain, we stopped to drink at a 
well, near the outer wall of the Temple of the Sun, 
and then pitched under an olive tree, in a deserted 
garden. There are many palm trees still at Tadmor, 
probably, however, of recent importation, for the few 
survivors of the ancient stock, that flourished there at 
the end of the seventeenth century, had all, save one, 
disappeared sixty years afterwards, at the time of 
Wood's visit. ( 45 ) ' 

The Temple of the Sun stands in the centre of an 
immense court, nearly seven hundred feet square, 
which is now entirely filled by the noisy houses of 
the Arab Palmyrenes. The court-wall, externally, 
presents a lofty dead surface, relieved by pilasters, and 
false doors with pediments in the intermediate spaces ; 
within, a couple of niches for statues, surmounted by 
very handsome pediments, adorn, or rather did adorn, 
the angles of the enclosure, which there rose like 
semi-towers, while similar niches, with neat but plainer 
pediments, run along the connecting walls. A hand- 
some colonnade ran all round the court; many of the 
columns are still standing, especially six at the south- 
west angle, very beautiful at a distance, but which lose 
on a nearer inspection. 

The Temple itself, sadly, alas ! dilapidated, was 
surrounded by a peristyle of fluted Corinthian columns, 
with bronze capitals, all of which have disappeared, 
most pitiably exposing the naked surface of the stone 
to which they were attached. Eight columns, in this 
sad condition, are still standing on the east of the 
temple ; those on the north have lost their capitals 
entirely ; one only on the west supports its entabla- 



PALMYRA. 



321 



ture ; even the bronze clinches that secured the stones 
of the temple have been carried off. 

Two fine Ionic semi -pillars, flanked by Corinthian 
pilasters, adorn the south end of the temple ; the chief 
ornaments of the other walls are the pediments sur- 
mounting the windows, which are very elegant. 

The great gate is the most beautiful I ever saw, next 
to the matchless one at Baalbec ; the devices are very 
beautiful, but the design is superior to the execution ; 
they are not cut deep enough, and the stone, moreover; 
has suffered much from exposure. A smaller door, 
that of the temple itself, introduced us into a mosque, 
which fills up a great part of the interior ; we saw a 
very curious ancient ceiling in one of the side apart- 
ments. Proceeding through other modern structures, 
we reached a gate or doorway ornamented with double 
fluted pillars, of no very chaste design, the ceiling dis- 
playing a Zodiac, and the suffit of the architrave the 
winged vulture soaring among the stars, — an interesting 
proof, of which I observed similar instances at Baalbec 
and in the tombs of Palmyra, of the affinity of the 
Egyptian and Syrian sun-worship. I was much pleased 
with this temple, but it is not to be compared with the 
Temple of the Sun at Baalbec. 

Quitting the Court, and proceeding towards the ruins, 
all of which lie westward of the Temple, the first 
building we approached was a ruined mosque, only 
remarkable for a beautiful little pediment, and part of 
an ancient ceiling, built into the wall. 

Between the mosque and the great arch of the colon- 
nade lie some curiously sculptured stones, that seem to 
have belonged to, and perhaps mark the site of, an 
ancient temple. The great arch is richly sculptured, 
particularly on the western, or inner face ; the central 

Y 



322 



PALMYRA. 



ornament of the pilasters, leaves connected by inter- 
lacing stalks, is particularly beautiful. Two smaller 
arches adjoin the large one. The plan, however, view- 
ing them from the east, is confused and unintelligible. 
This colonnade, running nearly from east to west, is of 
great length and very beautiful; the columns are in 
good proportion and excellent preservation, each shaft 
consisting of three courses of stone, admirably jointed, 
with a bracket for a bust or statue interposed between 
the second and third, — while the portico of a ruined 
temple, (six beautiful columns, each shaft of a single 
stone, and still surmounted by the tympanum,) ter- 
minates the vista. This portico, however, is not visible 
from the arch of entrance, owing to the street deviating 
from the straight line. 

Advancing up this noble avenue, temples and public 
edifices attract the eye on all sides, all more or less in 
ruins, except a small temple, of the time of Adrian, 
considerably to the north, and the most entire at Pal- 
myra, but its columns and richly sculptured portal have 
suffered wofully from wind and time. Beyond it, 

" O'er the still desert gleaming from afar," 

stands a lofty, solitary, nameless, column. 

The ruined temples seem to have been very elegant ; 
one of them, the first on the right, walking up the 
colonnade, was surrounded by columns, of which six 
on the W. and five (besides a pilaster) on the S. side 
are still standing,— their shafts are each of one single 
block of stone. South of this, in a minor colonnade, 
branching off north-westwards from the principal one, 
stood an arch, ornamented with four granite pillars, 
each shaft also of a single stone, but the bases and 
capitals of ordinary marble ; one only remains upright. 
Another building, to the south of the great colonnade, 



PALMYRA. 



323 



and exactly between two arches that open from it in 
that direction, seems to have been a stoa, or public 
portico. Beyond it, to the S.W., is the largest build- 
ing (except the temple) at Palmyra ; we set it down at 
once as Zenobia's palace, without the least authority 
for doing so. Passing the four cubical masses of 
masonry, w r hich I have already mentioned, in speaking 
of Jerash and Shoaba, as marking the crossing of 
streets in these towns, we came to a third temple, now 
lying a heap of ruins ; but remains of beautifully sculp- 
tured friezes, and fragments of large statues in alto- 
relievo, as execrable as the friezes are beautiful, and 
fragments of a long and deeply cut inscription in 
Greek and Palmyrene, show what a noble pile it once 
was. Lastly, behind the portico which closes the 
colonnade to the west, the remains of the temple it 
belonged to — friezes of vine-leaves, and beautiful net- 
work designs, and sarcophagi from the adjacent tombs 
— are heaped together in utter confusion. ( 46 ) Besides 
these distincter ruins, innumerable fallen columns and 
mouldering fragments of sculpture lie in every direc- 
tion — traces of edifices to which it is impossible even 
for fancy to assign any plan. 

It is indeed a most striking scene ; an awful stillness, 
a lifelessness pervades the ruins, which I never felt 
anywhere else, except, perhaps, at Paestum, — I do not 
even recollect hearing a bird sing there ; no huts en- 
cumber them, no filthy Arabs intrude on you; they 
stand as lonely and silent as when the last of the Pal- 
myrenes departed, and left the city of Zenobia to 
silence and decay; the fall of pillar after pillar has 
been the only note of Time there, and that uncounted, 
for centuries. — One cannot occupy oneself with petty 
architectural details at Palmyra — ivithin the temple- 
court I could criticise — without it admire only ; and, at 

Y 2 



324 PALMYRA. 

sunrise, at sunset, in the morning glow, or in the even- 
ing calm, wandering among those columns, so graceful 
in themselves, so beautiful in their sisterly harmony, I 
thought I had never seen such loveliness — such awful 
loveliness ! — lovely and yet awful ; at times you almost 
feel as if Palmyra were a woman, and you stood by 
her corpse, stilled in death, but with a sweet smile 
lingering on her lip. 

How different all this from Baalbec ! Here one's eye 
is free as air— how could it be otherwise at Tadmor in 
the wilderness ? There it is cooped up within lofty 
walls ; you cannot see the temple to advantage till you 
are close to it, and the details force themselves on your 
admiration,— and, as for the great temple, which many 
travellers seem not to be aware is sl temple — unfinished, 
as it was left by the ancients ; marred, as it has been, 
by the intrusion of modern buildings; covering the 
whole platform ; and hidden by the walls, so that from 
no one point within or without is it possible to view it 
as a whole — the eye is at first utterly bewildered, and 
even at last unable, except with imagination's aid, to 
estimate its grandeur. 

But we have not yet done with Palmyra. Leaving 
the portico, we clambered up a steep hill, to the N,W. 
of the colonnade, from the top of which, as from the 
crater of a volcano, rises a very large and strong castle 
of the middle ages, built of stone cut out of the moun- 
tain all round it, so as to form a deep fosse. The view 
from this hill is very fine. 

Alewyn and I tnen proceeded, in a southerly direc- 
tion, along the western hills, exploring the tombs, 
which are very numerous and extremely interesting, 
resembling none I had ever seen before, except (exter- 
nally) those in the Hauran; they are almost all of 
them towers, two, three, four, and in one instance, (and 



PALMYRA. 



325 



but one, I think,) five stories high. That of Manaius, 
(which I had entered before reaching Palmyra, unable to 
resist my curiosity, it being only twenty or thirty yards 
to the left of the road,) is peculiarly interesting — in 
some respects, indeed, the most curious building at 
Palmyra ; it is in wonderful preservation, and a descrip- 
tion of it will give you some idea of the others, as they 
are almost all built on the same plan, though far less 
beautiful. 

It is a lofty square tower, lessening by three courses 
of stone, like steps, at about a third of its height. An 
inscription in honour of the deceased is engraved on a 
tablet over the doorway. The principal apartment is 
lined with four Corinthian pilasters on each side, with 
recesses between them for mummies, the Egyptian 
mode of interment prevailing here, — each recess divided 
into five tiers by shelves, only one of which retains its 
position. A statue in a reclining posture lay at the end 
of the tomb between two semi-pillars ; busts, with in- 
scriptions in the Palmyrene character, range between 
them, just below the cornice, and this again supports a 
false sarcophagus, sculptured with four busts, and 
covered by an embroidered cushion, on which the 
effigy of a dead body seems once to have lain. Two 
smaller Ionic pillars flank the sarcophagus. Several 
other busts, all with Palmyrene inscriptions, are sculp- 
tured in relief over the door of entrance, and that of 
the staircase which leads to the upper story. The 
ceiling, broken through in the centre, but perfect at 
both ends, is sculptured all over with a beautiful pat- 
tern, tastefully coloured, of white flowers on blue 
grounds, enclosed within small squares, and they within 
larger, formed by lines of deep brown crossing each 
other, with yellow knobs at the points of intersection. 
Towards each extremity of the ceiling are two male 



326 



PALMYRA. 



busts, in Roman costume, on a blue ground, the colour 
as bright as if laid on yesterday. The cornice is beau- 
tiful — the echinus or egg ornament, and roses between 
projecting modillions, — the same as that in the library 
at Haigh, and which is found on almost every building 
at Palmyra and Baalbec. The upper and lower apart- 
ments display little or no ornament, except a pediment 
or two in the former, — a doorway from the east led 
down by a flight of steps to the latter, the roof of 
which, forming the floor of the principal chamber, has 
fallen in; it has four large recesses for burial, on each 
side. The date of this edifice is a.d. 103. ( 47 ) 

The tomb of lamblichus, mentioned by Wood, eighty 
years ago, a as the most perfect piece of antiquity" he 
ever saw, is now dreadfully dilapidated, its stairs crum- 
bled away, and the floor of the fourth story entire]y 
gone. It is five stories high, and was built in the third 
year of the Christian era. Like that of Manaius, the 
principal chamber is ornamented with four pilasters on 
either side. The ceiling is the chief object of attrac- 
tion, beautifully disposed in deep diamond-like com- 
partments, filled with mythological devices on blue 
grounds, all much defaced — the diamonds occupy each 
the centre of a square, and the triangular spaces 
formed by the prolongation of their angles are orna 
mented with heads and the winged vulture of Egypt. 
The roof of the second story is sculptured with a very 
curious and complicated device, — stars composed of 
diamonds touching at their sides, within large squares, 
&c. &c. — These are the best preserved tombs at Pal- 
myra, — two others, however, much interested me— the 
second from that of lamblichus, which leads to a 
sepulchre excavated in the rock — and one completely 
hollowed out of the hill, on the left, going up to the 
castle j I crept into it by a hole like the entrances to 



PALMYRA. 



327 



the tombs of the oldest Theban Pharaohs at Quoornet 
Murraee, but there was no queen of Sheba within to 
repay me for the trouble. There are some other tombs, 
partly built, partly excavated, and these appear to me 
the most ancient monuments of Palmyra. 

It was excessively hot all the time we were there ; 
to avoid the heat, vary the aspect of the scenery, and, 
in case there should be any mischief imagined against 
us by the Bedouins, to baulk their measures, we deter- 
mined on turning night into day, and travelling by star- 
light only, on our return to Damascus. We mounted 
accordingly, at half-past eight on Sunday evening, the 
twelfth of June, and quitted Palmyra by the necropolis, 
the sepulchral towers sternly glooming through the 
darkness. We halted for the day at half-past six the 
next morning, but got little sleep on account of the 
intense heat of the sun, and a hot wind that brought 
quantities of sand into the tent; moreover, the whole 
party were in peculiarly high spirits, and, when we 
composed ourselves to an attempt to sleep, found it 
impossible. After supping on rice and strong tea, we 
started again at half-past eight, and reached Karietein 
at half-past seven on Tuesday morning ; it was a lovely 
night; the summer lightning gleamed in the distance, 
and about midnight a most splendid meteor, brighter 
than the moon, sailed majestically across the heaven, 
and disappeared like a rocket, — such was Palmyra's 
glory. ( 48 ) This was shortly before arriving at Khan 
Kha'ir, a lofty ruined tower, romantically interesting as 
the spot where former travellers had been robbed, but 
to us only as a landmark, — for, travelling at the hour 
we did, we had no apprehension of an attack. When 
we first reached it, however, coming from Damascus, 
the appearance of a Bedouin, reconnoitring us on the 
horizon, was rather startling; and, as we rode past a 



328 



RETURN TO DAMASCUS, 



small caravan that presently appeared, we presented as 
martial a front as we could, riding all in file, with guns 
displayed, &c. 

We were all very sleepy this second night ; I walked 
and rode alternately, which kept me awake, but one of 
my friends fell off his horse, and hurt his hip, which 
detained us some time, so that we were eleven hours in 
doing what ought to have been performed in ten. I 
was not so sleepy or tired as I expected, got eight 
hours' repose during the day, and felt quite fresh during 
the following night. — We started shortly after sunset, 
at twenty minutes past seven — a lovely moon, but, as 
usual, bitterly cold; the horses went extremely well at 
first, but flagged the latter part of the night. At sun- 
rise we passed a ruined Khan on the left, and at seven 
minutes past eight reached Anta, which for two or three 
hours had been provokingly visible in the distance, and 
which it seemed destined we were never to reach, — 
nor was it, after all, to be our resting-place — we pressed 
on, and halted at last, at a quarter past nine, after a 
ride of fourteen hours, at Jerud, where we breakfasted, 
slept, and dined as usual, and started again at eight in 
the evening — striking towards the Aleppo road, and 
riding (especially towards daybreak) through mist and 
fog, noxious exhalations, damp and cheerless, the road 
seeming to lengthen as we journeyed, — and passing large 
fires from time to time, flaring wildly to the right and 
left of the track, with groups of Arabs gathered round 
them, moving in the flames, as it seemed to my excited 
and wearied brain, like demons. We reached Damas- 
cus at last, at a quarter past seven in the morning, 
after a ride of eleven hours and a half. 



[It was on my arrival at Damascus, that I learnt, 
from my kind and deeply sympathizing friend Mr, 



DAMASCUS. 



329 



Farren, the mournful intelligence that Mr. Ramsay 
had fallen a victim to the cholera during my absence. 
He had accompanied us as far as our first encampment 
at Adra, five hours from Damascus, but returned the 
following morning, having been unwell during the 
night, and not feeling sufficient interest in the excur- 
sion (which he had never fancied) to induce him to 
come on with us. On re-entering Damascus, symp- 
toms of cholera became apparent; all remedies proved 
ineffectual, and at three on the morning of the 8th of 
June, my poor friend was released from suffering. 

I cannot refrain from inserting the closing lines of his 
Journal, and the supplement which I observe has been 
added in pencil since it left my hands: " We had sent on 
Missirie to Mr. Farren'Sjto ask for rooms in his house for 
strangers ; but this had been destroyed by the earthquake, 
so we found our way to the Convent, whore . . ." "in 
less than three days afterwards, the writer of this 
Journal, dear William, ended his earthly career, leaving 
us good hope to believe that he has entered the New 
Jerusalem, and is there enjoying the blessing of that 
rest prepared for the people of God."] 



Section IV. 

Several weeks having elapsed, and all my sad arrange- 
ments being completed, there being nothing more to 
detain me here till the time of ultimate departure — my 
friends Pell and Alewyn proposed my joining them in 
an excursion they meditated to Baalbec and the cedars 
of Lebanon. I felt low in spirits, I was sick too of 
Damascus, the heat even of Salhyieh was intense, and 
I longed for the snow and the mountain streams and 
breezes; I went with them therefore, and I am glad I did 



330 



DAMASCUS. 



so, for I have been better both in mind and body ever 
since. I had another reason for wishing to leave Da- 
mascus for a while ; I was living all this time in Mr. Far- 
ren's house ; his kindness would not allow of my quit- 
ting it for my own apartments at the Sheikh's, and I saw 
no way of effecting an exit, unless by leaving Damascus 
altogether, and returning to my own quarters, — yet 
even this I was obliged to relinquish before my depar- 
ture, and declare myself Mr. F.'s willing prisoner during 
the whole time I should be detained here. — I have not 
words to tell you how kind he has been to me, how at- 
tentive to save me pain, and provide me with every 
comfort. 

I told you, I think, that Mr. Farren had been attacked 
by cholera a day or two after my return from Palmyra. 
He has been living almost ever since at his tents, leav- 
ing me his locum tenens here. The day we were to start 
for Baalbec, my companions being detained by the de- 
camping of one of their grooms, who had been paid 
forty piastres in advance, I rode on by myself, expect- 
ing them to overtake me at the noonday halting-place. 
In half an hour, reaching the brow of the hill, I bade 
adieu to the plain of Damascus — a most lovely spec- 
tacle—the city, with her picturesque minarets, sailing 
like a fleet through a sea of verdure. The view in the 
Landscape Annual (I think) is taken from this spot, or 
rather from a Sheikh's (Saint's) tomb a little off the 
road, which I climbed up to, but found the artist had, 
innocently enough, taken the liberty of altering the 
position of the Arch, which in the original cuts the view 
in two. 

Nothing can be conceived more dreary than the 
ravines near Damascus, except when streams flow 
through them, which are always fringed with green. 



VALLEY OF BARRADA. 



331 



In about an hour after starting, I reached the Barrada 
or ancient Pharphar, ("lucid stream!") rapidly flowing 
over its bed of rocks, — -and followed its course for 
several hours among the loveliest groves of poplars, 
figs, walnuts, olives, pomegranates, and vines; innu- 
merable bright and clear streams spring from the rocks 
close to the road side, and run merrily down to the 
river; but raise your eyes above them, and all is barren- 
ness, — glaring white walls of stone, without even crag- 
giness to relieve their ugliness. 

After about an hour and three quarters' lonely ride, 
I was encountered by a janissary of Mr. Farren's, who 
invited me, in his master's name, to pay him a visit. — 
I found his tents pitched in a most lovely glade, a little 
above the river, but so sequestered in the woods, as to 
be utterly invisible to the passing wayfarer. It was a 
singular approximation of the East and West, of the 
extremes of refinement, and — I will not call it bar- 
barism, but anti-civilization; Mrs. Farren was seated 
at her work-table in a charming recess, completely 
shaded by trees; Mr. F.'s mat lay on the ground oppo- 
site her, and a Bedouin of the Waled Ali tribe of 
Anezees, who had brought despatches from Bagdad in 
seven days and a half across the desert, squatted in 
eastern immobility beside it. After half an hour's de- 
lightful and most refreshing converse with my kind 
friends, I rode on. 

At five hours and three quarters from Damascus, we 
entered a wild mountain pass, through which the Bar- 
rada comes foaming down like a maniac. We saw 
tombs, high in the rocks, and the remains of a temple 
below, and of an aqueduct excavated in the rocks above, 
the bridge by which we crossed it. Presently, after 
passing a very beautiful waterfall on the left, w T e emerged 



332 



GROSS ANTXLIBANUS. 



into the upper valley of the Barrada, where he flows as 
gentle as infancy, yet diffusing verdure and fertility all 
around him. Every stream, indeed, that descended 
from the hills was made available to the irrigation of 
long strips of green that marked its course. The soil 
of the valley is very rich and well cultivated; harvest 
was going on, the reapers plucking up the corn by the 
roots, like the old Egyptians. 

The scenery became more and more beautiful as we 
advanced, and very English too; the vineyards were 
protected, each by its low wall and hedge; cross-barred 
gates, which it would puzzle even James to clear, 
secured every field,— had I been James himself I could 
not have seen them with more pleasure ; while our ap- 
proach to Zebdani, our halting place that night, was 
through green lanes, bordered by lofty hedges of wild 
roses and other flowers, as shady and cool as those of 
old England that Miss Mitford loves so dearly and de- 
scribes so well. Here, according to Arab tradition, 
Cain slew Abel — 'Adam was made of the red earth of 
Damascus, the plain El Ghoutta in which it stands 
being Paradise; and the tombs of many other patri- 
archs, giants, and men of renown, are found in the 
neighbourhood. 

Next morning, we crossed Antilibanus ; the scenery 
is very grand, — lofty crags, covered with prickly oaks 
and dwarf valonidis. We reached the highest point 
in rather more than three hours and a half, and the 
snowy Lebanon stood before us in all his grandeur, — 
a long mountain ridge, extending N.E. and S.W. as 
far as the eye could reach, and separated from Antili- 
banus by the Bekaa, a beautiful valley, several miles 
broad, well cultivated, and covered with villages. The 
first we reached was called Nebe Sheet, after the pro- 
phet Seth, son of Adam, — then Britani (its name was a 



BAALBEC, 



333 



pleasant surprise to us), (*) then Taibi; not one of 
which you will find in the maps. Possibly this may 
be the "valley of Baca" of the Psalmist, both names 
implying the vale of mulberries. 

At last, after a tedious ride through the uninteresting 
hills that intervene between the plain and the actual foot 
of Antilibanus, we caught sight of a long line of trees, 
marking the course of a stream towards the centre of 
the valley, and, (as it seemed,) a castle rising above 
them, with a lofty tower, which resolved itself, as we 
drew nearer, into six stately columns, — it was Baalbec; 
but more than an hour elapsed before we reached the 
quarries that supplied the material for those wondrous 
pillars — and, a little farther on, within three or four 
hundred yards of the Temple of the Sun, were stopped 
by quarantine officers (common soldiers) with words 
and gestures tantamount to " On ne passe pas ici." 

Could anything be more provoking ? A strong de- 
tachment of Ibraham's cavalry is quartered at Baalbec, 
and, from an absurd dread of the cholera, as a con- 
tagious disease, this cordon had been ordered round 
the place. Arguing was of no use — we said we did not 
want to enter the village or approach the camp, but 
merely to look at the old stones, which were quite un- 
connected with either, and desired them to go and say 
so to their commanding officer, and beg him to give us 
leave to enter, or else to come out and speak with us 
himself; Englishmen, some one said, were not accus- 
tomed to be treated in this sort of way, — no one moved, 
and " Ingles kelb 1" " the English are dogs !" — was the 
only reply. Now, infidel, thought I, I have thee on the 
hip ! and forthwith commenced manoeuvring after my 
friend Clarke's system of tactics. I made noise enough 
about the word that the soldier might see I understood 
him ; he tried hard to equivocate, but it would not do 



334 



BAALBEC. 



with so short a sentence; I slowly pulled out my note- 
book, and eyeing the man attentively, pretended to write 
down a minute description of his person — asked him 
his name, which he refused to give — no matter — then 
pulled out and opened my firman, crackled it. and 
uttered the words "Mahommed Air' — "Ibraham Pasha" 
several times with much austerity; it answered! off 
went the message — back came plenary indulgence to 
enter — and up, as I rode on, came the soldier bully, to 
kiss my hand, (he made a dash at it, or he would not 
have touched it.) and fawn for pardon. 

Had I seen the commandant, I would most undoubt- 
edly have complained of the man, not that I cared a 
fig about my nation being accused of puppyism, but 
that this habitual insolence towards Franks ought in 
every way to be resisted. A marked distinction is 
already made by the Turks between Ingles andFrangi, 
ail in our favour, and I have never let an opportunity 
slip of upholding our national character, as quite dis- 
tinct from that of the Franks. The Levant has always 
been overrun by Italian and French adventurers, from 
whom the Turks, till within these few years, formed all 
their ideas of Europeans, confounding every nation 
under the terra Frangi ; the English thev have now 
learnt to distinguish from the herd, to respect and fear 
us, to look up to us as wiser than themselves, and to 
esteem, I believe, if they do not like us. " The word 
of an Englishman'' is almost proverbial in Syria. In 
fact, a singular change is taking place in the character 
of the people; prejudice is gradually wearing away; 
the extension of the Egyptian dominion over Syria., 
productive, as it has been, of incalculable individual 
suffering, may eventually be the cause of much gene- 
ral good. The English are summoned to the breach ; 
I do not think (I hope I am not speaking presumptu- 



BAALBEC. 



335 



ously) that much can be done openly as yet, but the 
way seems to be paving for a great moral revolution, in 
which we must be active and zealous in our master's 
cause, — or woe betide us ! The eye of Providence is 
visibly watching this land — all Turkey indeed ; and, as 
its counsels are unfolded in the progress of events, I 
doubt not we shall see cause to admire and praise 
the unsearchable wisdom of God in preparing the way, 
and affording the means for the revival of his Gospel in 
the land it first rose upon 

We pitched our tent near a beautiful walnut tree, at 
the N.W. corner of the platform on which the Temples 
are built. 

The ruins of Baalbec consist of two very large tem- 
ples, the smaller and best known of which was sacred to 
the Sun, Baal, while the larger, dedicated to "the Great 
Gods of Heliopolis," seems never to have been finished, 
With the help of Pococke's description, which was as 
unintelligible to me as I fear mine will be to you, till I 
stood on the spot, I made out its plan most satisfac- 
torily, and have been wondering at its grandeur ever 
since; the architect must have been the Michael Angelo 
of antiquity. 

As a site for this magnificent pile, a lofty platform 
was built of very massive stones, supported by two 
parallel vaulted passages, running from east to west, 
lofty, and of most beautiful workmanship, and con- 
nected with each other by a third passage, running at 
right angles to them from north to south. The grand 
entrance was from the east, by a flight of steps, leading 
to a portico flanked by handsome pavilions on the right 
and left. A lofty doorway introduced the visitor into a 
polygonal court, from which, passing into a second, 
three hundred and fifty feet square, and ascending a flight 
of steps, he proceeded under a double colonnade to the 



336 



BAALBEC. 



grand portico of the temple, consisting of two (or, per- 
haps, three) rows of columns, fifty or sixty feet in height, 
while the peristyle consisted, or was to consist, of six- 
teen, in length, on each side, and eight at the west end 
— all of the same gigantic proportions. Of the temple 
itself, if it was ever built, not a trace remains, except a 
line of stones that perhaps marked the cella. From the 
eastern landing-place to the western extremity of the 
temple, I found it three hundred and thirty-six paces, 
or more than a thousand feet. 

Such was the idea of the architect— the Plato of ar- 
chitectural antiquity ; modern additions have done much 
to obscure the plan of what was executed, but, after 
careful examination, and rejection of the adventitious 
parts, as distinguished from those which, at first sight, 
resemble them, but are in reality unfinished walls per- 
taining to the original design, it all comes out clear, 
and your fancy builds up the pile as beautiful and 
sublime as it gleamed before the mind's eye of the 
architect. 

And who was that architect ? Might it not have been 
Apollodorus of Damascus, who threw Trajan's Bridge 
across the Danube, and who was put to death by Ha- 
drian, for a witty criticism on one of his own Imperial 
designs ? Left imperfect, we may be very sure that the 
jealous Emperor would not have finished the work of 
his rival. 

I reconcile this idea with the assertion of the Byzan- 
tine, John of Malala, that Antoninus Pius built a temple 
to Jupiter, one of the wonders of the world, at Helio- 
polis— and with the fact of the singular resemblance 
that exists between the architecture of the two temples 
— by the reflection, that the unfinished temple, there 
can be no doubt, was dedicated to the Deities of Helio- 
polis collectively, ( 50 ) and that one can no more be sur- 



BAALBEC. 



337 



prised that the reverence of the pious Antoninus for his 
benefactor's memory should have ensured its neglect, 
than that his taste and candour should have done jus- 
tice to the talents of the unfortunate Apollodorus, in 
adopting his design of the larger temple for that of the 
smaller — confessedly dedicated to Jupiter or Baal, and 
which might well be described in the language of any 
age — much more in the inflated style of the lower Em- 
pire — as a wonder of the world. 

A few words now on the actual condition of the larger 
temple. — Of the grand staircase no vestige remains, 
and a modern wall has been built in the place of the 
portico, overtopping the landing-place. Of the pavi- 
lions, that on the right remains in tolerable preserva- 
tion ; you enter under an arch, flanked by square 
Corinthian pillars, each of two large blocks of stone, 
lessening towards the capital ; these extraordinary 
columns give an Egyptian character to this part of the 
building — which is rather confirmatory of my theory as 
to the age and the architect ; there was a strong bias to 
the Egyptian style in the architecture of Hadrian's 
time. Within the pavilion you find beautiful niches 
for statues, with pediments, &c. 

Neither the sculpture of the grand Portal, (which had 
two smaller entrances on its right and left,) nor that of 
the wall of connexion between the two pavilions, was 
ever finished. The polygonal court seems also to have 
been left very imperfect ; the great court, however, is 
surrounded by chambers for the priests, and exedra^ or 
pillared recesses, for the philosophers to sit and lecture 
in — decorated with most beautifully sculptured niches 
and pediments, friezes and cornices, — niches for idols, 
richly ornamented, project between each chamber or 
recess. The beauty of some of the friezes is beyond 
all praise ; in one of them I discovered the orb with 

z 



338 



BAALBEC. 



wings and serpents, precisely the same as that which 
figures on every Egyptian temple. 

In front of the recess in which this device occurs, lie 
fragments of most beautiful granite columns ; probably 
all the exedrce were faced by them. The central colon- 
nade which existed in La Roque's time (1688) has now 
completely disappeared ; the platform on which it 
stood remains. A large semicircular building has been 
built by the Saracens in front of the portico, — the bases, 
indeed, of the eight columns of which the first row con- 
sisted, are built into it. We determined the number of 
columns the peristyle consisted of, by supplying losses 
and omissions from the opposite sides, — on the S. there 
are distinct traces of ten — the three most westerly 
fallen, the six next standing, and the base of the tenth 
still in its place, while beyond it the platform has been 
completely broken down since Pococke's time, when 
nine of the great pillars were standing.* Opposite 
this tenth base, stand the base and broken shaft of the 
column that corresponded to it on the other side of the 
temple, beyond which we distinctly traced six bases in 
their original places, built into the modern wall, making 
up the number of intended columns sixteen, — while, 
beyond them, there appeared to have been two, or, 
perhaps, three more, belonging to the portico; the 
seventeenth is wanting. 

Of the three most westerly columns, on the north side 
of the temple, there are no traces — not even their bases, 
and it struck me that the three immense blocks of 
stone, from sixty -three to sixty- seven feet in length, 
and twelve feet thick, which lie in the outer wall of the 
platform at this very spot, and below its level, and 
which Dr. Richardson conjectures were lowered to 



* The same number that Belon found in 1549. 



BAALBEC. 



339 



their present position by the workmen who found them 
lying useless on the top of the platform — were the in- 
tended material for these very pillars, never worked 
upon. In the quarry we passed, approaching the 
town, lies another block, undetached from the rock, of 
still more stupendous dimensions, sixty-eight feet in 
length, and from twelve to fifteen thick. 

The six surviving columns are the glory of Baalbec; 
they are the principal object in every view 7 of the ruins, 
but the most pleasing aspect, I thought, was from a 
little Corinthian temple to the south of the platform, 
where the wall has been broken down. Viewed, how- 
ever, near or far, they are equally worthy of love and 
admiration, — whether you watch them from a distance, 
or, looking upward from their feet, criticise their de- 
tails, the chaste ornament of their suffit, their rich 
frieze, their superb cornice — and pronounce them 
faultless. — Palmyra at sunrise, and Baalbec at sunset, 
are Claudes treasured in the cabinet of the memory, 
which neither accident can injure, nor beggary deprive 
one of. 

The Temple of the Sun stands directly south of the 
great Temple, and the best view of it, commanding its 
northern and western facades, is from underneath the 
six pillars. The platform, on which it stands, adjoins 
the great one, but is considerably lower; indeed it 
appears to me built up against it — a later con- 
struction. 

It is only by comparison, however, that either plat- 
form or temple can be spoken of as small. The X. 
and S. sides were ornamented by fourteen magnificent 
pillars, of which nine on the N. and four on the S. are 
still standing, — the W. end, by eight, of which the 
three most southerly are perfect, the next four broken, 
and the last, towards the N., prostrate. The ground, 

z 2 



340 



BAALBEC. 



between the temple and the western wall, is heaped 
with broken shafts and capitals. All the columns of 
this peristyle are Corinthian, with smooth shafts, each 
of three pieces of stone— like the six great columns — 
admirably joined. The frieze, cornice, &c. most 
beautiful. The lacunari, or panels of the suffit of 
the peristyle, are sculptured in imitation of network, 
a series of large busts and mythological designs 
running down the centre, each in the middle of a large 
diamond, and smaller busts occupying the angles 
formed by the interlacing compartments, — a most in- 
tricate and indescribable design, but very beautiful. 
On the N. side, under the nine columns, these lacunari 
remain very nearly perfect. 

The walls of the temple, within the peristyle, are, as 
usual, quite unornamented except by pilasters at the 
angles, and by the cornice, which, on the south side, 
is seen to great adyantage from below the platform. 
The grand staircase, mentioned by La Roque in 1688, 
has been destroyed. 

Of the portico, four columns only remain perfect — 
it the S. E. angle. It consisted of two rows of columns, 
all fluted, except the two last on either side, belonging 
to the peristyle. The frieze and cornice aboye these 
four columns are most beautiful ; a battlemented tower 
has been built oyer them by the Saracens, who haye 
also most barbarously reared a huge wall directly in 
front of the great gate of the temple. Creeping through 
a low gateway, we found ourselves before this match- 
less portal ; eyery ornament that could be introduced 
into Corinthian architecture is lavished on it, and yet 
it is perfectly light and graceful. It is composed of 
nine vast stones, six forming the sides, and three the 
top ; each must be some tons weight. The keystone 
lias slipped partly through, and hangs ominously over 



BAALBEC. 



341 



head, as one passes under it. An eagle is carved on 
the suffit, holding in his talons what has been called the 
Caduceus, and ribbons in his beak flowing towards a 
winged genius — u a messenger of Heaven," Anne 
would call him — " sailing upon the bosom of the air," 
— and holding a wreath of fruits ; his brother, once to 
be seen to the right of the eagle, has been defaced. 

The ornaments of this door-case are exquisitely de- 
licate, especially the ears of corn and the grapes and 
vine leaves, — it was not till a second or a third visit, 
that we distinguished the little elves or genii lurking 
among the leaves m the lower compartments formed 
by the intertwining vine. The rolling frieze, the 
cornice, the surviving scroll — I have no words to express 
their beauty. 

The interior of the temple is also very richly orna- 
mented, — six fluted pillars adhering to the walls on 
each side, with an arch of most delicate sculpture, sur- 
mounted by a niche and rich pediment, between each 
pillar. Two other arches, beyond the sixth pillar on 
either side, and separated by pilasters, appear to have 
belonged to a small arcade on each side of the great 
altar — now utterly destroyed. The double row of 
pillars, added by Theodosius, when he converted this 
temple into a church, was still visible at the commence- 
ment of the last century. 

But turn to Wood, dear mother — I should not be 
surprised if he has omitted all mention of a curious 
Saracenic building, directly facing the temple, — (the 
whole ruins, in short — and I ought to have mentioned 
it before — were turned by them into an immense 
castle;) its semi-vaulted portals, scooped shell-wise, 
like the ceilings of the Alhambra, lead to staircases, 
one running down into the platform, but filled up with 
rubbish, — the other leading to the roof. Peeping 



342 



BAALBEC. 



through the chinks of a door a few steps up, I saw a 
large chamber with pointed arches, now used, appa- 
rently, for a magazine. — Ibrahim Pasha's soldiers are, 
I fancy, the utilitarians who have turned the vaults 
and halls of Baalbec to such profitable account We 
passed their camp on the east of the ruins ; they were 
watering their horses at the brook of Baalbec, — I never 
saw such a number of fine animals. 

Leaving the platform by the southern breach, and 
crossing the stream, we proceeded to a beautiful little 
Corinthian temple among the trees, circular within 
and without, and pierced externally with handsome 
niches, each flanked by two columns, — the architraves, 
cornices, &c. curving inwardly, so as to give the building 
the appearance of an octagon. Wreaths are gracefully 
suspended from the cornice over each niche. A more 
elegant little edifice I have seldom seen. Earthquakes 
have sadly shaken it, and four pillars only are standing. 
The door-posts are of single blocks of stone. — But 
everything is on a grand scale at Baalbec, — the blocks 
of the great platform frequently measure from fifteen to 
thirtv feet in lensrth. 

We observed three Arabic inscriptions in the walls of 
the platform— one on the east side, near the N. E. 
angle, — another, in large and beautiful characters, on 
a fallen stone near the S. E. angle, — and a third at the 
S. W. corner ; all in the modern character. Baalbec 
made a noble defence against Abou Obeidah, the Lieu- 
tenant of the Caliph Omar, and, on surrendering, was 
condemned to pay two thousand ounces of gold, four 
thousand of silver, two thousand silk vests, and a 
thousand swords ; she was very powerful too under the 
Omniades — Now, how fallen ! — How hath the fine gold 
become dim, the City of the Sun ceased ! 



BAALBEC. 



343 



But the brook of Baalbec still wimples on, 

" Its silver streams glittering in the sunny beams/' 

brightly as the Tweed — transparently as the rill im- 
mortalized by Ben Yousef : — 

" So smooth the pebbles on its shore 
That not a maid can thither stray, 
But counts her strings of jewels o'er, 

And thinks the pearls have slipped away!" 

About half an hour's walk W. of the ruins, stand 
eight stumpy columns of most beautiful Egyptian 
granite, highly polished, and, for the most part, without 
a scratch on them ; all, except three, standing on their 
heads — no capitals, and supporting a most clumsy 
superstructure of calcareous stone, the fallen roof of 
which covers the floor. A very large massive slipper 
bath (at least liker one than a sarcophagus) has been 
stuck, feet upwards, between two of the pillars, and is 
retained in its position by a thin slab, awkwardly in- 
terposed between it and the architrave. I never saw 
such a jumblement. It is probably some Sheikh's 
tomb ; no Moslem would have ever thought of building 
it for the sake of preserving the pillars ; they, doubt- 
less, were removed from the Great Temple. 

Thus much for Baaibec !( 51 ) 

" I\ ow upon Syria's land of roses 
Softly the light of eve reposes, 
And, like a glory, the broad Sun 
Hangs over sainted Lebanon, 
Whose head in wintry grandeur towers, 

And whitens in eternal sleet, 
"While Summer, in a vale of flowers, 

Is sleeping rosy at his feet."( 52 ) 

Such was the evening — calm and beautiful, as we 
rode slowly away from Baalbec across the Bekaa, in a 



344 



TRIBES OF LEBANON. 



north-westerly direction, towards Deir el Akhmar, a 
village on the lowest slope of Lebanon, three hours 
distant ; we encamped there near the ruin of a Co- 
rinthian temple.* ( 53 ) The only object of interest on 
the road is an isolated Corinthian pillar, that rises 
nobly in the middle of the plain, nearly, if I mistake 
not, west of Baalbee. It looks best from a distance, 
and was evidently intended to be so seen ; the shaft 
consists of fourteen courses of stone, the capital of one, 
and the base of two, — the whole elevated on a platform 
of four courses, projecting one beyond another, like 
steps ; we saw no inscription, nor any ruins near, to 
which it could have belonged. It might have been 
surmounted by a statue, like Pompey's pillar at Alex- 
andria. 

At Deir el Akhmar, we first found ourselves among 
the Maronites, a Christian nation of Syrian descent, 
but, by adhesion, a branch of the Church of Rome, 
who inhabit the central regions, chiefly, of Mount Le- 
banon. They speak Arabic, but write it in the ancient 
Syriac character ; they are an industrious, hospitable^ 
estimable race, I believe, and we were much pleased 
with what we saw of them. 

Three other tribes live on the mountain — ever a 
refuge for the oppressed : — the Anzairies, a remnant of 
the ancient Pagan inhabitants of Syria, (some of whom, 
the Ismaylys, or Assassins of the old writers, are said 
to retain the most abominable superstitions of Egypt 

" It was originally ornamented with pillars and pilasters of the 
Corinthian order ; one of the latter remains, at the N.W. corner, 
and the fragment of a column, — several bases are worked into a 
modern wall which has rendered this ruin habitable ; the foundation 
stones are just visible above the ground, by following which I 
ascertained that it had been 294 paces long by llj broad." Ong. 
Journal. [1847.] 



THE DRUSES. 



345 



and Greece,) live to the north of the Maronites; south 
of them, dwell the Metoualis, hated by Turks and 
Arabs as belonging to the Persian sect of Mahometans 
called Shiites, who consider the first three Caliphs as 
usurpers, — many of this race live in the Bekaa — Baal- 
bec icas their stronghold, but they are a scattered peo- 
ple, and their territories much diminished; lastly, the 
Druses occupy all the Gebel Sannin, or southern chain 
of Lebanon, including the maritime district of Kesrouan, 
as far south as Deir el Kammar, where the Emir Beshir, 
their Prince, resides,* — they are a sect of Moslems, 
who believe that the Deity became incarnate in the 
person of Hakim, the fanatic Caliph of Egypt,( 54 ) and 
expect his return as the Moehdy or Saviour— from 
China ! to establish his universal worship, and the ex- 
clusive dominion of his followers. They are divided 
into two classes, akhals, and djahels, the initiated, and 
non-initiated into their mysteries, which seem, however, 
to be very simple, for even children are intrusted with 
their secrets. These religious chameleons adopt the 
external religion of whatever people they live amongst, 
affirming that they are commanded to do so till the 
Moehdy return. — These are the people whose cleanli- 
ness and pleasing manners so much charmed me in 
the Hauran ; I have seen little or nothing of those in 
Mount Lebanon. Great numbers of Maronites live 
intermingled with them, particularly in the Kesrouan. 

About two hundred years ago, a general belief pre- 
vailed in Europe that these Druses w T ere descendants of 
a party of Crusaders, who had remained in Syria under 
a Comte de Dreux; their famous Emir Fakr-ed-din, 
the guest of the de' Medici,( 55 ) favoured the delusion ; 

* When the ferdi tax was imposed, the Druses were reckoned in 
the Government return at 15,000 males; the Maronites at the same 
number; the Metoualis at 1200; and the Anzairies at 20,000. 



346 



SYRIONORMAN RACES. 



yet never had a theory less foundation. You meet with 
traces of the Franks, reminiscences of the Crusades, 
everywhere in Syria, but — while the Bekaris, or 
descendants of Abubekr, (Mr. Farren showed me their 
pedigree,) are still flourishing at Damascus, as well as 
the houses of many of the Companions of Mahomet — 
the descendants of the Berengers, Bethunes, Lusignans, 
DTbelins, and other Syiio-Norman families recorded 
in the Lignages d'Outremer, Duchesne's folios, and the 
old Chronicles, have sunk — if indeed any of them re- 
main — into mere fellahs, or cultivating Arabs, — so 
quickly does the race degenerate in this clime of the 
sun ! — And yet never was a rule proved by a more 
interesting exception — the discovery made a few years 
ago by a Frank traveller, to whose eyes, like mine, a 
landscape in Lebanon had scarcely more attractions 
than a bundle of old parchments, that the village 
Sheikh, in whose possession he found them, was the 
descendant of one of the oldest crusading families in 
France ! — Ignorance would have been bliss in his case, 
poor old man! he started forthwith on pilgrimage to 
Paris, and got as far as Alexandria, but falling ill there, 
and other obstructions being cast in his way by a kind 
Providence, he returned to his village — Gausta, and 
was living there in extreme old age about two years 
ago. Mr. Farren tells me that, along the mountains of 
Safeta, there is a line of feudal towers from Tripoli to 
the plain of Horns, evidently built by the crusaders as 
a means of defence and communication between those 
points, and completely commanding Lebanon. The 
splendid castle of Hosn is in the range, and Mr. Farren 
is strongly of opinion that the very large Convent of 
Mar Georgius, which is in its immediate vicinity, and 
the most celebrated of the Greek ecclesiastical posses- 
sions in Syria, is the Convent at which that celebrated 



MOUNT LEBANON. 



347 



conflict took place, when a detachment of the Arabs 
who were then besieging Damascus carried off the 
daughter of the Governor of Tripoli, who, with her 
bridegroom and a gallant train, had gone there to be 
wedded.( 56 ) A distinct and warlike race of Christians 
still live in that neighbourhood, though the greater part 
of what they once possessed has been wrested from 
them by the Sejoote, a very bold and martial race, of 
Arab descent, among whom too some Curdish settle- 
ments have been made. — There, Mr. Farren thinks that 
traces of the Crusaders or their descendants might be 
sought for with most likelihood of success, but all his 
own inquiries have hitherto proved fruitless. ( 57 ) 

Now let us cross Mount Lebanon — it bears the same 
name still, Gebel Libnan; it is spelt Limanon in the 
Theban sculptures of the invasion of Osirei. 

Starting from Deir el Akhmar, at a quarter past four 
in the morning, and ascending through woods of prickly 
oak and valonidi, we reached, in three hours, the ruined 
village Ainnet, from which begin the steep ridges of 
Lebanon. All the trees ceased now, except a species 
of dwarf cedar, emitting a delicious fragrance, which 
replaced them, and continued, though diminishing in 
number, almost to the summit. The rocky slope of 
the mountain is covered with yellow, white, red, and 
pink flowers, affording delicious food to the bees of 
Lebanon — their honey is excellent. At eight, we came 
in sight of Lake Leman of the East, or Yemouni, as 
every one pronounced it, lying to the south, embosomed 
between the upper and lower ridges. An hour after- 
wards, we reached an immense wreath of snow, lying 
on the breast of the mountain, just below the summit — 
and from that summit, five minutes afterwards, what a 
prospect opened before us ! — Two vast ridges of Leba- 
non, curving westwards from the central spot where we 



348 



THE SACRED RIVER. 



stood, like the horns of a bent bow or the wings of a 
theatre, run down towards the sea, breaking in their 
descent into a hundred minor hills, between which — 
unseen, unheard — and, through as deep and dark and 
jagged a chastn as ever yawned, the Kadisha, or Sacred 
River of Lebanon, rushes down to the Mediterranean — 
the blue and boundless Mediterranean, which, far on 
the western horizon, meets and mingles with the sky. 

Our eyes coming home again, after roving over this 
noble view, we had leisure to observe a small group of 
trees, not larger, apparently, than a clump in an Eng- 
lish park, at the very foot of the northern wing or horn 
of this grand natural theatre; these were the far-famed 
cedars. We were an hour and twenty minutes reach- 
ing them, the descent being very precipitous and diffi- 
cult. As we entered the grove, the air was quite per- 
fumed with their odour, the " smell of Lebanon," so 
celebrated by the pen of inspiration. 

We halted under one of the largest trees, inscribed 
with De La Borde's name on one side, and De La 
Martine's on the other. But do not think that we were 
sacrilegious enough to wound these glorious trees; 
there are few English names comparatively, I am happy 
to say — I would as soon cut my name on the wall of a 
church. 

Several generations of cedars, all growing promiscu- 
ously together, compose this beautiful grove. The 
younger are very numerous, — the second-rate would 
form a noble wood of themselves, were even the pa- 
triarchal dynasty quite extinct, — one of them, by no 
means the largest, measures nineteen feet and a quarter 
in circumference, and, in repeated instances, two, three, 
and four large trunks sprirg from a single root, — but 
they have all a fresher appearance than the patriarchs, 
and straighter stems — straight as young palm trees. 



THE CEDARS. 



349 



Of the giants, there are seven standing very near each 
other, all on the same hill, — three more, a little further 
on, nearly in a line with them, — and, in a second walk 
of discovery, after my companions had lain down to 
rest, I had the pleasure of detecting two others low 
down on the northern edge of the grove — twelve there- 
fore in all, of which the ninth from the south is the 
smallest, but even that bears tokens of antiquity coeval 
with its brethren. 

The stately bearing and graceful repose of the young- 
cedars contrast singularly with the wild aspect and 
frantic attitude of the old ones, flinging abroad their 
knotted and muscular limbs like so many Laocoons, 
while others, broken off, lie rotting at their feet ; but life 
is strong in them all, — they look as if they had been 
struggling for existence with evil spirits, and God had 
interposed and forbidden the war, that the trees He had 
planted might remain living witnesses to faithless men 
of that ancient "Glory of Lebanon" — Lebanon, the 
emblem of the righteous — which departed from her 
when Israel rejected Christ ; her vines drooping, her 
trees few, that a child may number them, she stands 
blighted, a type of the unbeliever ! And blighted she 
must remain till her second spring, the day of renova- 
tion from the presence of the Lord, when, at the voice 
of God, Israel shall spring anew to life, and the cedar 
and the vine, the olive of Carmel and the rose of Sharon, 
emblems of the moral graces of God, reflected in his 
people, shall revive in the wilderness, to " beautify the 
place of his sanctuary, to make the place of his feet 
glorious" — to swell the chorus of Universal Nature to 
the praise of the living God. 

We had intended proceeding that evening to Psherre, 
but no — we could not resolve to leave those glorious 
trees so soon— the loveliest, the noblest, the holiest, in 



350 



PSHERRE. 



the wide world. The tent was pitched, and we spent 
the rest of the day under their " shadowy shroud." 
Oh! what a church that grove is! — never did I think 
Solomon's Song so beautiful, and that most noble chap- 
ter of Ezekiel, the thirty-first — I had read it on the 
heights of Syene, Egypt on my right hand, and Ethiopia 
on my left, with many another denunciation, how aw- 
fully -fulfilled ! of desolation against Pathrcs, and judg- 
ments upon No — but this was the place to enjoy it, 
lying under one of those vast trees, looking up every 
now and then into its thick boughs, the little birds 
warbling, and a perpetual hum of insect life pervading 
the air with its drowsy melody. Eden is close by, — 
these are " the trees of Eden," u the choice and best of 
Lebanon," — these are the trees (there can be none 
nobler) which Solomon spake of, " from the cedar of 
Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall," — the object of 
repeated allusion and comparison throughout the Bible, 
—the emblem of the righteous in David's sabbath 
hymn, — and, honour above honour, the likeness of the 
countenance of the Son of God in the inspired Canticles 
of Solomon. 

Our encampment was very picturesque that night, 
the fire throwing a strong light on the cedar that o'ej- 
canopied us ; those enormous arms, of ghastly white- 
ness, seemed almost alive and about to grasp and catch 
us up into the thick darkness they issued from. ( M ) 

The direct road from the cedars to the village of 
Eden is little more than two hours ; we were desirous, 
however, of seeing the famous Convent of Canubin, (or 
Anubin, as they pronounce it, always dropping the ini- 
tial C,)and accordingly, on arriving at Psherre, after an 
hour and twenty minutes' ride, we sent on the baggage 
direct under Ale w yn's care, who was not well enough 
to accompany us. 



VALLEY OF THE KADISHA. 



351 



The descent to Psherre (the Beshirai of the maps) 
was very precipitous, but nothing to what awaited us 
"beyond it ; the village lies in a lovely vale, all verdant 
with vines and fruit trees, and musical with cascades ; 
and the breezes of Lebanon— who that has ever quaffed 
can forget them? — To the east, on the slope of the 
valley, stand the Convent of Mar Serkis, almost con- 
cealed among thick groves, with a very remarkable 
pointed rock rising over it. Our route lay westward, 
along the edge of the ravine, broken every now and 
then by deep gullies, descending from the northern 
Lebanon, — each with its torrent dashing down from the 
mountains, and sometimes forming beautiful cascades 
over the rocks, light clouds of spray hovering over 
their descent. We passed the village Hatsheit, at nine, 
and that of Belausi, at ten, — both situated on the edge 
of the chasm ; looking eastwards from this point to- 
wards its head, we saw the river Kadisha, like a silver 
thread, descending from Lebanon. The whole scene 
bore that strange and shadowy resemblance to the won- 
drous landscape delineated in 6 Kubla Khan/ that one 
so often feels in actual life, when the whole scene around 
you appears to be re-acting after a long interval, — 
your friends seated in the same juxta-position, the sub- 
jects of conversation the same, and shifting with the 
same " dreamlike ease," that you remember at some 
remote indefinite period of pre-existence ; you always 
know what will come next, and sit spell-bound, as it 
were, in a sort of calm expectancy. — One would almost 
have thought Coleridge had been here in some such 
vision, or at least that some description of the valley 
had been unconsciously lingering cn his memory, — the 
general resemblance between the scene he has painted 
and that before us was so striking. I dare not insist 
on the coincidence of there being " a sacred river" in 



352 



CONVENT OF CAN U BIN. 



both landscapes, in proof of their identity, — "there 
is a river in Macedon, and there is a river at Monmouth; 
'tis called the Wye at Monmouth ; it is out of my prains 
what is the name of the other river, but 'tis all one, 'tis 
so like as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is 
salmons in both !"* 

Beyond Belausi, we began the descent to Canubin 
by a very difficult path, occasionally hewn into rude 
steps. This magnificent ravine (I speak of it gene- 
rally, as we viewed it from different points) is of im- 
mense depth, broken into vast hollows, overhung with 
trees, chiefly prickly oaks, and shooting into pinnacles, 
between which the mountain torrents rush down on all 
sides, some of them forming beautiful cascades, many 
hundred feet in height. At Canubin, however, the voice 

* " The most imaginative bard of our time, he whose poetry may 
be considered as the matrix of that of Byron, has favoured us, by 
way of a psychological curiosity, with a picture of one of his dreams, 
the result probably of opium, which a recent traveller has declared 
to be so exact a transcript of the scenery viewed from Mount Leba- 
non, that, when halting under the hoary cedars of the antique world, 
he could find no truer description of the landscape before him than 
the celebrated verses of Coleridge. 

" Are we to infer that to the inspired brain of the poet that Oriental 
beatitude was literally man'fested ? 4 There are more things in heaven 
and earth than were dreamt of in the philosophy of Horatio. But 
there are more things in the human mind than were dreamt of even 
by Hamlet, even by Shakspeare. May there not even exist senses 
still imperfectly defined by physiological science ? May there not 
be mysteries of the soul still undeveloped, indicated only by the di- 
vining rod of the initiated, a mockery to the learned, but of profound 
conviction to more delicate organizations, conscious of magnetic in- 
fluences — such as might be esteemed a supernatural visitation, did 
aught in our frail and miserable nature seem to entitle us to commu- 
nication with the invisible world ?" Cecil, vol. ii, p. 40. — Memory, 
however — the remembrance of some description of Lebanon in the old 
travellers, mingling with that of Kubla Khan's palace in Marco Polo, 
might have suggested the vision in question to the poet's fency. 
[1847.] 



CANUBIN. 



353 



even of the Kadisha is scarcely heard j a profound 
silence reigns — all is grandeur, but grandeur in repose, 
— the choicest place in the world for dreaming away 
one's life in monastic inactivity. The convent hangs 
about two-thirds down the precipice, partly built up 
against, partly excavated in the rocks ; it looks as if 
held by cramping-irons in its present position, so deep 
is the abyss below, so menacing the rocks that over- 
hang it. 

Here, in winter only, resides the Batrak, or Patriarch, 
of the Maronites ; we had expected to see him, but 
were disappointed to hear that he had flown off with 
all the brethren to Adiman, their summer residence, on 
the top of the mountain opposite. 

Several leaves of the Syriac Bible alighted at our 
feet as we rode up to the gate, and a lay Maronite, who 
made his appearance at the window above it, seemed 
quite indifferent to their fate. He informed us, in addi- 
tion to the unwelcome news of the Batrak's absence, 
that there was absolutely nothing in the Convent for 
man or beast, — this did not at all coincide with our 
plans, which were to rest there a few hours, feed our 
horses and ourselves, and then proceed in the afternoon 
to Eden ; we, therefore, the gate being open, took 
possession of the monastery, searched and discovered 
corn in abundance, fed our horses, established ourselves 
in the pleasantest place we could find, and then tried 
to persuade the Maronite that food for man was also 
producible, assuring him, as we did from the first, that 
w r e had feloush enough to pay for it. All persuasion 
was in vain till a sort of major-domo arrived, to whom 
intelligence had been sent of the capture of the Con- 
vent ; from that moment all was cordial hospitality, — 
he unlocked a small room, furnished with mats — pro- 
duced some of the sweet red wine of Lebanon — and, 

A A 



354 



CANUBIN. 



by degrees, the most sumptuous dejeune a la fourchette 
we had seen for many a day made its appearance, — 
salad, cheese, eggs, honey, and dibs — a syrup ex- 
pressed from grapes, — and delicious Arab bread; a 
meal for princes ! 

During the glow of victory — for we virtually resigned 
our conquest, the moment that hospitable thoughts 
were evinced by the rightful proprietors, — we explored 
the Convent as thoroughly as a lingering respect for 
bolts and bars permitted. There is nothing worth 
seeing, except the church, which is a large and beautiful 
grotto cut lengthways in the rock that overhangs the 
monastery. The portraits of the Patriarchs, mentioned 
by old travellers, no longer line its walls, but there are 
several paintings of a character superior to what one 
would expect to see in such an out-of-the-way place — 
daubs, but done in Italy ; the best of them was an 
Assumption of the Virgin over the altar. In, and on, 
a press in the church, lay many books and MSS., the 
former chiefly printed at Rome by the Propaganda, 
some of the latter most beautifully written* — all in 
Arabic, I suppose, but in the Syriac character. The 
Bible, to which the leaves that flew out of the window 
with such empressement to welcome us belonged, lay in 
a small ap ailment at the end of a long gallery built up 
against the rock, and overlooking the gate.( 59 ) 

After a hearty meal and comfortable siesta, we re- 
mounted, and, with the major-domo as guide, a merry 
good-humoured fellow, re-ascended the gorge we had 
come down by, but up its western side. We presently 
passed a small chapel cut in the rock ; the whole 
valley, indeed, is full of the excavated dwellings of 
ancient hermits. The scenery was still more beautiful 
at this evening hour, the southern declivity all shadow, 
except the salient points of rock. 



EDEN. 



355 



After about an hour's ascent, we came in sight of 
the vale of Eden, with the village on the N. W* side 
of it, so that we had to wind round the head of the 
valley to reach it, — there is no cutting across country 
in Mount Lebanon — and who would wish to do so, and 
abridge his enjoyment? Above, below, around you, 
wherever you cast your eyes, Man and Nature vie with 
each other in beautifying and enriching the landscape 
— Man affording Nature a field to display her bounty 
upon, by terracing the hills to their very summits, that 
not a particle of their soil may be lost, — Nature, in 
rewarding his toil by the richest luxuriance, pouring 
grain into his lap, and wine into his cup, without mea- 
sure. The slopes too of the valleys, one mass of 
verdure, are yet more productive than the hills, thanks 
to the " springs of Lebanon," that come gushing down 
so fresh and cool and melodious in every direction, — 
vines twine around and hang in garlands from every 
tree ; mulberries are cultivated in immense quantities, 
with houses for the silkworms — of dry branches or 
matting, bound with reeds — built between the trees; they 
never pluck off the leaves, but cut whole boughs off for 
the silk-worms, — the trees, however, are little injured 
in appearance, as many boughs as are seen on a young 
fig tree being left untouched on each. The fig trees 
are beautiful, the apricots delicious, and as common as 
apples in England. Walnut trees, of majestic growth 
and beautiful produce, flourish beside the deep torrent- 
beds, along with the weeping willow and Lombardy 
poplar, the only unfruitful trees in this garden of Eden 
— for all I have said, though descriptive generally of 
the valleys of this part of Lebanon, applies strictly to 
that we have just ascended to from Canubin. — And 
then the cordial greeting of the country people — poor, 
but all seemingly happy and contented, and as like 

a A 2 



356 



EDEN. 



each other in features as brothers and sisters — a smile 
on every woman's countenance, all of them unveiled, 
and some very pretty — the steeples of the village- 
churches peeping out through the trees, and the bells 
answering each other across the ravines every morning 
and evening— were moral charms that doubled the 
attractions of the scenery; we felt ourselves in a 
Christian country, and almost among brethren. 

Eden is built on a lofty ridge, extremely precipitous, 
its sides supported by terraces, wherever it has been 
possible to introduce them, planted with vines, mulber- 
ries, and corn. A considerable torrent, augmented in 
its course by minor rills, flowing in cascades from the 
hills, rushes down a deep ravine towards the south. 
We reached the village after a quarter of an hour's 
ascent from the bridge, and found our friend Alewyn 
encamped near a cascade, in a magnificent grove of 
walnut trees. Pell and I, pursuant to his advice, started 
off* immediately on foot for the brow of a hill about 
twentv minutes distant, to catch the sunset view of the 
western side of Lebanon; it was superb; Tripoli was 
concealed by the rising ground, but the headland, the 
port where the merchants reside, the vessels, the towers 
—remnants of the old fortifications of the knightly 
Berengers — were clearly visible, and the sea- ward 
course of the Kadisha, distinguishable at intervals by 
its snow-white foam. More to the south, we saw the 
bold headland near Batroun, the mountain that hid 
Djebail, &c. &c, and — beyond all, the Mediterranean. 

A crowd of the villagers congregated under the trees 
in front of our tent that night ; children were romping 
about, — some one was modulating the shepherd's reed 
not unmelodiously, — it was a more cheerful scene than 
I ever witnessed in the lowlands of Syria, or Palestine, 



PSHERRE. 



357 



where the merry-hearted sigh, and the mirth of the 
tabret has almost ceased in the land. 

The old Sheikh of Eden was Vbsent, but Yousef, his 
second son, paid us a visit — a very fine intelligent boy, 
about twelve, who speaks Italian beautifully, and un- 
derstands French; these languages he has learnt from 
the Bishop, who was educated at Rome. His cousin, 
also, a son of Sheikh Latouff, the Sheikh's brother, 
speaks French with great fluency, but I did not like 
him half so much. The whole family bear a very high 
character. 

The population of Eden is estimated at about two 
thousand; there are eleven churches. — I have often 
had a present of a nosegay in the East; a Maronite 
brought me one that morning of pinks and jessamine, 
which he called yesmin, evidently the same word. 

We returned to Psherre, by the direct route, the fol- 
lowing afternoon, with the intention of proceeding to 
Zachle, by Akoura and Afka, along the heights of 
Lebanon — and thence to Damascus. Burckhardt is 
the only traveller I know of who has taken this route, 
and a most sublime and beautiful one it is, so far as 
Akoura and Afka, beyond which I cannot speak of it, 
the guide having led us, either ignorantly or knavishly, 
into another road. 

Leaving Psherre, the fleecy clouds that had been 
hovering all the day on the heights of Lebanon be- 
gan to sink lower and lower, and, as we passed 
under Mar Serkis, completely concealed one of the 
lofty crosses erected on the peaks of the mountain, 
while the other, encircled by them, appeared as if un- 
dergoing translation to heaven. We crossed a bridge 
over the Kadisha, at the head of the Wady, and then 
proceeded westwards along the opposite or southern 



358 



WADY KADISHA. 



bank, — passing a large Convent, Mar Elisha, on the 
right, hanging about half way down, like Canubin, ( 60 ) 
and the village Ka Koffere, high on the left. Soon 
after passing through Bur Osha, we saw an immense 
roofless cavern on the other side of the valley, — a 
ravine, in fact, in the process of formation, the torrent 
not having completed the work of clearance. Between 
this and a vast gorge on which stood the village Hat- 
sheit, which we passed the day before, descended a 
beautiful and very lofty waterfall, from the very summit 
of the ravine. 

We halted at Hasroun, nearly opposite Hatsheit, 
after four hours' ride— a straggling village, like Eden, 
almost lost in its groves of mulberries, — the houses 01 
stone, very large and substantial, without windows, 
and serving, apparently, each for several families. 

After fixing on a spot for the tent, Schranz and I 
hastened down to the edge of the valley, and, from a 
projecting rock, enjoyed one of the grandest and most 
beautiful spectacles I ever witnessed. The thick clouds 
resting on the valley and the northern ridge of Lebanon 
were gradually beginning to ascend, terraces beyond 
terraces receding into the clouds like an immense 
staircase leading to some unknown shrine of glory; and 
a shrine indeed, of unspeakable grandeur was soon re- 
vealed to us in the heights of Lebanon, unveiled in all 
their magnificence, and glowing in the rays of the 
evening sun — invisible to us below; but in a few mo- 
ments all was gloom again — heavy, moist, fleecy mist 
swept in a torrent down the valley, and you could 
scarcely see, as old Homer says, so far as you could 
throw a stone. It cleared toward sunset — a superb 
sunset after all ; and a most delicious green tint diffused 
itself over the sky after his departure, such as we have 
seen in Nubia. I found such a pretty little garden in a 



SOUTHERN LEBANON. 



359 



crevice of the rock we stood on, — about six feet long by 
three or four broad — just the size for my little May- 
flower. 

Next morning, the church bells, answering each 
other from the opposite sides of the chasm, proclaimed 
the festa of Saint Peter and Saint Paul ; no one was 
visible when we emerged from the tent, but, just as we 
finished breakfast, the whole population issued from the 
churches and collected under the mulberry trees, to 
witness our departure, and bid us good bye. After 
winding round the ravine, on the edge of which, over- 
hanging the great Wady, Hasroun stands, we com- 
menced the ascent — at first very short and steep- 
then, long and gentle — of the Southern Lebanon. In 
an hour and a quarter we lost sight of Tripoli, the 
Wady, and the theatre of mountains that encompass 
it, and proceeded along the western heights towards 
the snowy peaks above Afka, repeatedly catching 
glimpses of the lower ridges of the chain descending to 
the Mediterranean. 

We passed through fine rocky scenery, but saw little 
cultivation, except in a plain which we passed at a 
great depth below us, lying in the southern side of a 
rocky valley, and where we saw Mar Antonios Hoop, 
a convent, on one side, and the village Tanurin on the 
other. This part of Lebanon is quite abandoned to 
pasturage ; we passed two or three small camps of 
Bedouins, the most barbarous I think I ever met with — 
no curiosity, no intelligence ; they had a good many 
camels, sheep, and goats, — the sheep lugging after 
them the immense tails that are seen all over Lebanon ; 
these tails, like the humps of camels, are accounted 
great delicacies in the Arab kitchen. 

After an hour and a half's steep and continual de- 
scent, we reached Akoura, a Maronite village, beauti- 



360 



MINETRI. 



fully situated among gardens of mulberries, at the 
eastern extremity of Wady Metouali, a very deep vale, 
which completely separates the mountain range we had 
just traversed from that on which Afka stands, which 
we saw directly in front, as we descended to the Wady. 

We dined and rested at Akoura, under a magnificent 
walnut-tree, and then started again for Afka, winding 
round the head of the valley, under crags of most sur- 
passing grandeur* — one of them peculiarly noble, with 
a projecting ledge on one of its lower peaks, evidently 
designed by nature for a Dive's or a Genie's castle— 
I sighed for Aladdin's lamp ! This noble Wady de- 
rives its name from the Metoualis, once, I believe, its 
sole proprietors, but Maronites and Metoualis now 
share it in common, and are very good friends not- 
withstanding. A torrent flows from under a large 
semi-hexagonal cavern at the head of the vale under 
the rocks; we crossed it by a beautiful natural bridge, 
and, soon afterwards, crossing the intermediate hills 
into a collateral wady, descended to Naitri, Nitri, 
or Minetri, (for they gave it all these names), a village 
at its eastern extremity, inhabited by Metoualis, a most 
uncourteous set, — before reaching it, we passed the 
remains of an ancient building of hewn stone. We 
halted there, unable to get on further that night. 

We passed great numbers of dwarf cedars this day, 
and rode through whole woods of them the following 
morning, commencing our ascent of Lebanon directly 
eastwards, the guide assuring us that the road we 
wished to go did not pass through Afka. In two hours 
we reached the highest point of ascent, and, after an 
hour's ride among low undulating hills, came in sight 
of a vast and beautiful plain, far below us, which we 
presently recognised as the Bekaa, with Baalbec in the 
distance. It was evident our guide had brought us 



RAID ON THE BEKAA. 



361 



quite a different route from Burckhardt's, — here, he 
said, his knowledge of the road ended, so Ave sent him 
back to his village. 

And yet I am glad now that we took this road, for on 
this eminence Raymond of Tripoli and his followers 
must have halted, after ascending from Minetri — the 
ruined building there being evidently the fort of Ma- 
naithere, the only station mentioned by William of 
Tyre as occurring on their route from Gebail — halted 
there, I say, and looked down on the rich fields of 
Baalbec, before descending to commit them to the 
flames. — Baldwin of Jerusalem, meanwhile, (not the 
young prince, whose chivalrous expeditions to Petra 
and Bozrah I have already mentioned, but his nephew, 
the leper,) — acting in concert with Raymond, and cross- 
ing the mountains from Sidon, had descended into the 
Bekaa by Messara, (the Meshgara, evidently, of the 
maps,) and commenced a similar work of devastation, 
each advancing towards the other, till they met — 

" These flaming comets with their fiery tails,*' 

in the centre of the valley, and, turning to the east, 
stood side by side, awaiting the chivalry of Damascus, 
who, under Saladin's brother, were rushing down from 
Antilibanus to check their ravages. The Moslems 
fought well, nor was it till after a long and bloody con- 
flict that the crescent sank, and the victorious Franks 
departed with their plunder. ( 61 ) 

We descended slopingly along the mountain, through 
beautiful woods of oak and cedar, towards Zachle, 
and, after entering the low hills that, on this as well as 
the other side, intervene between the foot of Lebanon 
and the Bekaa, passed villages innumerable — Shmuster, 
Beitshemi, Bednein, Temnein, Zernubbi, (which lies 
out of the road to the right, on a hill, but we found the 



362 



TOMB OF NOAH. 



remains of a temple there, built with very massive 
stones — traces of four columns in front, and the three 
steps of entrance perfect, which I hardly ever saw else- 
where, except at Pompeii), — Habla, Karak, Malaka — 
blazing with furnaces, for it was already dark — and 
Zachle beyond it, a short distance up a valley. Its lights, 
gleaming through the trees, reminded us of the ap- 
proach to a great manufacturing town in England. 
Dark as it was, we managed to discover a resting-place 
and pitch the tent, in which we were glad to lie down 
at half-past eight at night. 

Zachle derives considerable importance from its trade 
of dyeing cloth ; the inhabitants are calculated at five 
thousand, the greater number Greek Catholics. The 
town lies on the southern slope of a very beautiful 
valley, well watered by the poplar-shaded stream of 
Berdowni, with extensive vineyards and mulberry- 
groves on the hills ; up the glen there is a large Greek- 
Catholic Convent, Mar Elias— and, beyond it, at its 
extremity, a little village among the rocks, El Uedi.* 

Next morning, sending the baggage in advance, 
across the Bekaa, we rode back to Kerak to visit the 
tomb of — Xoah ! ! — thirty- eight paces long, by about 
one and a half wide, and elevated on a platform. It 
adjoins an old mosque, and is surrounded by a wall 
with grated windows. In a ruined building contiguous 
to the mosque, and apparently ancient, we found a 
Latin funeral inscription. t 

From Kerak we crossed the Bekaa, in about three 

* Zachle was burnt, and its inhabitants ruined, during the recent 
war, which mingled the tears of the natives with every fountain in 
Lebanon. [1847.] 

f Cn. Julius L. Fab. 

Eufus P. P. 
Hie situs est. Vix. 
annis lxxxiv. 



DAMASCUS. 



363 



hours, south-eastwards, towards Medjdel, a ruined 
tower conspicuous on a hill on the eastern side of the 
plain, with a large village below it — crossed Antili- 
banus — I could expatiate on its fine rocky scenery, but 
will only tell you that we traced a Roman road, still 
the line of communication between Damascus, Aura- 
nitis, and the Bekaa, for many hours — halted for the 
night at Dimes, after nearly eleven hours' ride, and 
reached Damascus in five hours the next morning. 

Mr. and Mrs. Farren were still at their tents, when I 
arrived at Damascus, but returned a few days after- 
wards to keep me company during the remainder of my 
stay.* Nothing could exceed their kindness ; no inter- 

* "5 July. — Visited the palace of the Mufti of Damascus, the 
representative of a family surnamed Murad, originally of Tartar 
extraction, and which has supplied the city with muftis for many 
centuries, — the present Mufti is a most respectable man. After 
paying our respects to him in his ordinary divan, we visited the 
mosque attached to the house, — all the outer buildings are very plain 
and ordinary, but the harem, or residence for the women, (to which 
we passed through a small garden,) quite delighted us. The apart- 
ments open on a very large rectangular inclosure, paved with marble 
and interspersed with tanks of water and parterres of flowers — with 
a large open alcove, or divan, at the upper end. The surrounding 
buildings are two stories high, and a gallery or balcony runs all 
round, on which the upper story opens. The ladies had retreated to 
this upper story — but by an indirect glance we saw them peeping at 
us through the blinds. The rooms of the ladies were very beautiful 
—the floors inlaid with variegated marble — the ceilings richly gilt, 
and painted in fanciful devices, with inscriptions from the Koran, 
&c. — Most luxurious divans, sofas, and English chairs occupied the 
upper part of every room, and a fountain, overflowing into a marble 
reservoir, the low T er. Woodcarving and marqueterie w r ork abounded, 
excellent in design and execution ; and there were some pieces of 
embroidery, views of Mecca, &c, worked by the ladies. — The Mufti's 
'own bedroom was luxury itself. The ladies' baths were nothing 
very particular." — Orig. Journal. But the tomb of Saladin, sadly 
neglected now, was the most interesting thing I saw at Damascus. 
[1847.] 



364 



BEYROUT. 



mittent spring, but ever fresh and constant, flowing 
from the heart — I can scarce express to you the extent 
of my obligations to these kind friends — to Mr. Farren 
especially, who, from the first, insisted on relieving me 
of all those painful, but necessary, interviews, arrange- 
ments, &c, which, under the circumstances, I should 
have been obliged to go through myself. He is indeed 
the man of ail others to represent the British nation in 
a country like this, and, indeed, what he has effected in 
dispelling Turkish prejudice, and raising the character 
of Englishmen, is marvellous, — 'tis, in great measure, 
to his personal character, his courtesy, his decision, that 
we owe the respect in which we are now held. ( 62 ) 

I am now writing from Beyrout; I left my kind 
friends on Thursday the thirteenth, and arrived here 
on Saturday afternoon ; the last day's journey was 
beautiful, but the heat while descending towards Bey- 
rout, and that of the town itself — (poor little Julie de 
Lamartine's death-bed) — exceeds anything I ever felt 
before ; the perspiration rolls down one's face very 
nearly as fast as it does in a vapour bath.( 63 ) 

It is long past midnight, and by this time to-morrow 
I hope to be many a league from Syria. You, my 
dearest mother, will be more thankful for me than, I 
fear, I am for myself, but, in closing this long letter, 
and reviewing the scenes I have wandered over during 
the last few months, I cannot but feel how deep a debt 
of gratitude I owe to Divine Providence, for the un- 
varying health, bodily strength, and good spirits, that 
have never failed me during so many months,— for pre- 
servation from accidents and perils, known, and often 
probably unknown, to me, — and for the accomplish- 
ment of every wish I formed before and after com- 
mencing my Tour in Egypt and Syria, relative to its 
extent ; so that I have seen all and more than I pro- 



DEPARTURE. 



365 



posed at starting. Everywhere I have received the 
kindest attentions from men in and out of authority. — 
And if the loss of poor William, my companion through 
so many instructive and interesting scene s, impress me 
as it ought, and as I trust it will, even that too will 
prove a blessing ! — Adieu. 



NOTES. 

EGYPT. 



Note 1, page ]0. — Missirie. 

I feel great pleasure in bearing testimony to the merits of this excellent 
man. During the whole time he travelled with us as courier, we never 
once had occasion to find fault with him, except for exerting himself too 
much. He kept our boatmen, muleteers, native servants, &c, in perfect 
order ; we had not the slightest trouble with them. With other gentlemen 
he has travelled over most parts of Europe, in North America, and Mexico. 
He speaks Greek, (his native tongue,) Turkish, Russian, Walachian, 
Arabic, English, (which he has taught himself to read and write,) French, 
Italian, Spanish, and, I believe, can make himself understood in some other 
languages. 

Of his personal character, intelligence, activity, energy, and those more 
important points, honesty, sobriety, and Christian principle — it would be 
impossible for me to speak too highly. 

I cannot refrain from mentioning (what would never have come to my 
knowledge directly) his having ransomed from Turkish slavery, and sent 
home to their native country, (Argos,) a mother and a daughter. Nor is 
this the only instance, as I have reason to know, of his having stood the 
friend of the fatherless, and caused the widow's heart to sing with joy. 

[Since this was written, Missirie has settled at Pera, and opened an 
hotel, which Mr. Warburton describes as " most comfortable and excel- 
lent . . . the last comfort one enjoys in going to the East, and the first in 
returning from it." — Crescent and the Cross, vol. ii, pp. 368, 381. 1847.] 

Note 2, page 15.— Cleopatra's Needle. 

Its companion lies beside it, almost covered by the sand. Both appear 
to have been standing when Abd'allatif wrote his account of Egypt, 
a.d. 1203. 

Note 3, page 15. — Pompey's Pillar. 
" Nulla sane columnarum huic similis !" — Edrist. 

This noble column appears to have stood in the court of a large quad- 
rangular edifice, popularly called the School of Aristotle, and supposed to 
have been built by Solomon, till the reign of Saladin, when the governor of 



368 



NOTES. 



Alexandria destroyed it. TVe learn this from Abd'allatif. — Edrisi, about the 
middle of the twelfth century, describes this building as supported by six- 
teen columns at each extremity, and by sixty-seven at either side ; and 
Benjamin of Tudela, the last writer who speaks of it as an eyewitness, 
(a.d. 1160.) says it contained twenty colleges, divided from each other by 
marble columns, {exedrcB ? ) " whither men flocked from all parts of the 
world to learn the philosophy of Aristotle."— Abd'allatif saw the remains of 
the columns on the shore, whither they had been carried by the governor, 
and traces of them all round the pillar, within thirty years after their 
destruction.* 

The central pillar was cut in the quarries of the Said, or Upper Egypt. 
" II en existoit originairement," says an Arab writer of the twelfth century, 
" sept, de la raeme dimension, qui servoient d'ornement a un palais im- 
mense nonime Maison de la Sagesse, qui n'avoit pas son pareil sur la 
terre." — " Sept geants de la famille de Aad apporterent chacun une de ces 
colonnes sous leurs bras, depuis le Mont Berim au midi d'Ecouan jusqu'a 
Alexandria" — Langles, notes to Norderis Travels, vol. iii, p. 181. 

Pompey's pillar has at different times been represented as a monument 
reected by himself to his own glory, (Breydenoach, 1483,) and a memorial 
of Caesars triumph on his rival's defeat. (Belon, 1548; Sandys, 1610.) 
In 1507, when that "pious, honourable, and magnanimous knight," Martin 
a Baumgarten, visited Egypt, it was popularly supposed that Pompey's head 
was buried under it. 

" Elle etoit surmontee, je crois, d'une statue colossale d'airain, placee 
sur un enorme stylobate, et qu'on nommoit cherahhyl; elle regardoit la 
mer, et avoit le doigt dirige vers Constantinople. Un receveur general des 
impositions d'Egypte, Acanieh ben-Zeid, demanda au khalife ElOualyd ben- 
Abdoul-mehk ben-Merouan, la permission de faire fondre cette statue pour 
en frapper une grande quantite de fels, petites pieces de billon." — Langles, 
ut supra. 

This sacrilege must have been perpetrated between a.d. 714 and 717 — 

the duration of El TValid's reign. 

Every one has heard of persons ascending Pompey's pillar by means of 
a rope-ladder and a kite, but perhaps the most extraordinary achievement 
of the sort was that of a famous rope-dancer, who climbed up by a knotted 
rope with a donkey on his shoulders, left it there to pass the night, and 
brought it down again the next morning. — D'Arvieux, Memoires, vol. i, 
p. 191. 

Some beautiful porphyry columns were standing at a little distance from 

* See Edrisi, Geogr. Nubiensis, p. 214.— Ben. Tud. Itin. p. 214, ed. Elzev. 32mo. — 
AbfTallatif, Relation de 1'Egypte, and a very interesting note of M. de Sacy, p. 182, 
and pp. 230 sqq.— or in Pinkerton's Collection, vol. xv. p. S28. Perhaps the columns 
seen on the shore by Abd'allatif were the same as those described by Paul Lucas a 
hundred years afterwards, as follows; — " Je decouvris au pied des murailles, sur le 
bord de la mer, plusieurs blocs de porphyre, qu'il seroit fort facile d'enlever pour en 
faire. d'excellens ouvrages. II y en a qui pesent assurement deux ou trois milliers; 
j'en enlevai un de 150 livres, que j'ai envoye en France, et on pent juger par cet 
echantillon de la beaut e du porphyre, et de lusage qu'on en pourroit faire."— 
Troisitme Voyage, (1714,) torn, ii, p. 29. 



NOTES. 



369 



the pillar in 1658, when D'Arvieux visited Alexandria — perhaps the same 
as the " six pillars of marble, twenty spans about, and three fathoms high 
without the ground," mentioned in Grimstone's ' Estates, Empires, and 
Principalities of the World,' — London, fol., 1615* — a work, the title-page 
of which, engraved by Elstracke, may be ranked for beau'y along with that 
of Purchas's Pilgrims. 

Note 4, page 16. — Remains of Alexandria, 

" Je vis aussi, en passant dans le milieu de la viile, un rang de colonnes 
de marbre granite, d'une hauteur et d'une grosseur extraordinaires, dont il 
y en a encore une qui conserve son ehapiteau ; ces colonnes, qui sont sur 
une meme ligne, s'etendent pres de 500 pas, et ne sont pas aujourd'hui dans 
une egale distance l'une de 1' autre, parce que la plus grande partie en a ete 
enlevee ou abattue, et Ton en voit encore beaucoup de renversees, Entre 
celles qui subsistent, il y en a qui ne sont eloignees que de dix ou douze 
pieds, ce qui fait juger qu'il y en avoit sur chaque rang plus de 150. En- 
core faut il supposer que la premiere et la derniere de celles qui se trouvent 
sur cette ligne etoient effectivement aux deux extrernites de ce rang; ce qui 
n'est pas vraisemblable, puisque vis-a-vis de ces colonnes on en voit a deux 
cents pas dela d'autres semblables qui leur sont opposees; et quoiqu'ilnen 
reste aujourd'hui que trois ou quatre, il est visible, par la disposition des 
lieux, par le meme ordre, la meme grosseur, qu'elles ne faisoient qu'un 
meme tout avec celles dont je viens de parler. II paroit aussi par d'autres 
colonnes, qui sont a une egale distance de ces deux rangs, qu'il y aToit 
autrefois en cet endroit une superbe fontaine ; l'ediflce de brique, et les 
bassins ou l'eau tomboit, se voient aujourd'hui manifestement. Ainsi on 
peut conclure qu'il y avoit la une place superbe, dont la figure composoit un 
quarre long, large de 200 pas, et long de 500. Les principaux Palais de la 
ville faisoient sans doute les quatre faces de cette belle place, puisque der- 
riere ces colonnes, du cote ou il en reste un plus grand nombre, on voit 
quantite de murs de brique,. les uns renverses, les autres encore entiers, qui 
laissent juger de la grandeur et de la beaute des edifices qui etoient en cet 
endroit. On distingue meme, parmi les masures, des bains presque entiers. 
et j'en ai vu un dont les murs etoient faits d'un ciment si dur qu'il ressem- 
bloit a du marbre. Les Turcs en detachent tous les jours quelques mor- 
ceaux pour faire servir a leurs batimens. Mais comme ces mines sont 
presque entierement couvertes de sable, ils n'enlevent que ce qui paroit en 
dehors ; et s'ils vouloient se donner la peine de creuser jusques aux fonde- 
inens, ils decouvriroient bien des choses curieuses." — Troisieme Voyage de 
Paul Lucas, vol. ii, p. 31, sqq. 

" Proh dolor ! illustrem, maximam, habitatoribus refertissimam, pulcher- 
rimam, opulentissimamque quondam Ptolemaeorum sedem, Alexandriam, 
collapsam, dirutam, majori ex parte desertam, miserando spectaculo deplo- 
ravi. Heu infelicem ! qua? et quanta mcenia, quales et quam amplae ejus 



* Translated from the French of P. d- Avity* 
B B 



NOTES. 



urbis stratae vise, quam conspicuae domorum frontes ad coelum tendentes, qui 
portaruni fornices ! Sed in cinerem versa domorum interna omnia praeter- 
euntes conspiciebamus."— Petri Marty ris Legatio Babylonica, (1502,) 
printed in the same volume with his Decades, f. 80 verso, ed. 1532. 

Note 5, Page 16.— Eacotis. 

M. Langles, however, claims much higher consideration for Eacotis : — 
" Alexandre ne fit qne relever les mines et changer le nom d'une des plus 
anciennes et des plus grandes villes de l'Egypte. Cette ville se nommoit 
Eaqouth, ou Eaqoudah, suivant les auteurs Arabes, mais plutot Eakhoty, 
suivant l'orthographe Qopte ; mot dont les Grecs et les Latins ont fait Ea- 
cotis." — Notes on Xorden. t. iii, p, 158. 

Murtadi, in his curious legendary history of Egypt, says it was built by 
^lasar, grandson of Ham, and his thirty followers, with whom he came to 
Egypt on the dispersion of nations. His paternal grandfather was the wise 
priest Philemon, who, being deputed by Pharaan, the last antediluvian king 
of Egypt, to a religious conference with Noah, was converted by the Patri- 
arch, and admitted into the ark with his daughter, afterwards married to 
Misraim, son of Ham. Philemon, returning to Egypt with his grandson 
and his thirty followers, reopened the pyramids, taught them the secret 
writing of the birbas or temples, the knowledge of the talismans concealed 
in them, and how to make new ones, and also the rules how to subject 
spirits. " lis bastirent plusieurs villes sur la mer Eomaine, et entre autres 
celle de Eacode, au lieu ou est maintenant Alexandrie." — Merveilles 
dEgypte, p. 119. 

Others attribute its foundation to Shedad the son of Aad, illustrious in 
the au rials of the East for the gardens of Irem, which he planted in rivalry 
of the celestial paradise. A third account states that he merely rebuilt it 
after its destruction by the Amalekites, or Shepherd Kings. 

Note 6, Page 19 — Daniel's prophecies. 

" These prophecies of Daniel, foretelling the sufferings and persecutions 
of the Jews, from Alexander's successors in Syria and Egypt till the end 
of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, during a disastrous period of 160 
years, are, if possible, more surprising and astonishing than even hi? grand 
prophetic period of 2300 years, and the several successions of empire, or 
the four temporal kingdoms, that were to precede the spiritual kingdom of 
God upon earth. The magnificence of the whole scheme, comprising the 
fortunes of all mankind, seems to be an object suitable to the Omniscient 
Governor of the universe, calculated to excite awe and admiration ; but the 
minuteness of detail exhibited in this part, exceeds that of any existing 
history of those times. The prophecy is really more concise and compre- 
hensive, and yet more circumstantial and complete, than any history. No 
one historian has related so many circumstances, and in such exact order of 
time and place, as the prophet; so that it was necessary to have recourse 



NOTES. 



371 



to several authors, Greek and Roman, Jewish and Christian, for the better 
explaining and illustrating the great variety of particulars contained in this 
prophecy. — The astonishing exactness with which this minute prophetic 
detail has been fulfilled, furnishes the strongest pledge, from analogy, that 
the remaining prophecies were and will be as exactly fulfilled, each in their 
proper season." — Dr. Hales 1 Analysis of Chronology y vol. ii, p. 556. 

Note 7, Page 23. — Interview with Mohammed Ali. 

We entered unannounced — in our plain Frank clothes, and found no one 
in attendance on the Pasha. It is curious to contrast this unceremonious 
reception with that of foreigners on the same spot in Mandeville's time, 
about 1330:— 

"And before the Soudan comethe no Strangier, but zif he be clothed in 
clothe of gold, or of Tartarye, or of Camaka, in the Sarazines' guise, and 
as the Sarazines usen. And it behove the that anon at the firste sight that 
men see the Soudan, be it in wyndowe, or in what place elles, that men 
knele to him and kisse the erthe : for that is the manere to do reverence 
to the Soudanne of hem [them] that speken with him. And whan that mes- 
sangeres of straunge contrees comen before him, the meynee [menzie, at- 
tendants] of the Soudan, whan the straungeres speken to hym, thei ben 
aboute the Soudan, with swerdes drawen and gysarmez [battle-axes]* and 
axes, here armes lift up in highe with the weapenes, for to smyte upon hem, 
zif thei seye ony woord that is displesance to the Soudan. And also no 
straungere comethe before him, but that he makethe him sum promys and 
graunt of that the straungere askethe resonably, be so it be not azenst 
[against] his lawe. And so don othere princes bezonden. For thei seyn 
that no man schalle come before no prynce but that he be bettre and schalle 
be more gladdere in departynge from his presence thanne he was at the 
comynge before him." — Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville, 
Knight, p. 47, ed. 1727. 

For the ceremonies of reception in the time of the Caliphs, see William 
of Tyre's graphic account of Hugo de Caesarea's mission, — book 19 of his 
History of the Crusades. And conf. Tasso's description of the Egyptian 
court in the Gerus. Liberata, canto xvii. 

Note 8, Page 27. — Streets and Houses of Cairo, in 1634. 

" Some of those streets I have found two miles in length, some not a 
quarter so long ; every one of them is locked up in the night, with a door 
at each end, and guarded by a musketeer, whereby fires, robberies, tumults, 
and other disorders are prevented. Without the city, towards the wilder- 
ness, to stop sudden incursions of the Arabs from abroad, there watch on 
horseback four Sanjiaks, with each of them a thousand horsemen. 

"This city is built after the Egyptian manner, high, and of large rough 

* " Guisarme, pertuisarre, hache a deux tranchans, espece d'arme tranchante, dont 
on se servoit, au defaut de l'epee." — Roquefort, Glossaire de la Langue Romaine. 

B B 2 



372 



NOTES. 



stone, part of brick, the streets being narrow. It hath not yet been above 
one hundred years in the Turks' possession, wherefore the old buildings 
remain; but, as they decay, the new begin to be after the Turkish manner, 
poor, low, much of mud and timber ; yet of the modern fabrics, I must ex- 
cept divers new palaces which I have seen, both of Turks, and such Egyp- 
tians as most engage against their own country, and so nourish in its 
oppression. I have oft gone to view them and their entertainments, some- 
times attending the Illustrissimo/' (Signor Santo Seghezzi, of Venice,) 
" with whom I lived; otherwhiles accompanied with some of his gentlemen. 
The palaces I found large and high, no state or nourish outwardly ; the first 
court spacious, set with fair trees for shade, where were several beasts and 
rare birds, and wonderful even in those parts ; the inner court joined to 
delicious gardens, watered with fountains and rivulets ; beside the infinite 
variety of strange plants, there wanted no shade from trees of cassia, 
oranges, lemons, figs of Pharaoh, tamarinds, palms, and others, amongst 
which pass very frequently chameleons. The entry into the house, and all 
the rooms throughout, are paved with many several-coloured marbles, put 
into fine figures : so likewise the walls, but in Mosaic of a less cut ; the roof 
layed with thwart beams, a foot and a half distant, all carved, great, and 
double gilt ; the windows with grates of iron, few with glass, as not desiring 
to keep out the wind, and to avoid the glimmering of the sun, which in 
those hot countries glass would break with too much dazzling upon the eye ; 
the floor is made with some elevations a foot high, where they sit to eat and 
drink; those are covered with rich tapestry; the lower pavement is to waik 
upon, where in the chief dining chamber, according to the capacity of the 
room, is made one or more richly gilt fountains in the upper end of the 
chamber, which, through secret pipes, supplies in the middle of the room a 
dainty pool, either round, fore-square, triangular, or of other figure, as the 
place requires, usually twenty or twenty-four yards about, and almost two in 
depth, so neatly kept, and the water so clear, as makes apparent the exqui- 
site mosaic at the bottom ; herein are preserved a kind of fish of two or 
three feet long, like barbels, which have often taken bread out of my hand, 
sucking it from my fingers at the top of the water. 

" But that which to me seemed more magnificent than all this was my 
entertainment. Entering one of these rooms, I saw at the upper end, 
amongst others sitting cross-legged, the Lord of the Palace, who beckoning 
me to come, I first put off my shoes, as the rest Lad done, then bowing very 
often, with my hand on my breast, came near ; where he making me sit 
down, there attended ten or twelve handsome young pages, all clad in scar- 
let, with crooked daggers and scymetars, richly gilt; four of them came 
with a sheet of taffety, and covered me ; another held a golden incense with 
rich perfumes, wherewith being a little smoked, they took all away; next 
came two with sweet water, and besprinkled me ; after that, one brought a 
porcelain dish of coffee, which when I had drank, another served up a glass 
of excellent sherbet. Then began our discourse In their ques- 
tions and replies, I noted the Egyptians to have a touch of the merchant 
or Jew, with a spirit not so soldier-like and open as the Turks, but more 



NOTES. 



373 



discerning and pertiuent." — Voyage into the Levant, by Sir Henry Blount, 
of Tittenhanger, Knight. Harleian Voyages, vol. i, p. 525. 

Note 9, page 29. 
" Foule-fat-fool-Saint." 

"Another of their Saints went about the Citie continually starke naked, 
covering neither head, foot, nor any part of his foule fat bodie ; yet I have 
seen divers as hee passed along, at divers times, (yea women,) kiss his 
naked armes and hands. On a time, at Bullaco, going over Nilus, he going 
in a passage-boat, in which I, with others, went over, a Moore in the com- 
panie, seeing him come, layed him a piece of an old coat to sit on ; but 
when he felt it under him, he layd it aside, and sate on the bare boords ; so 
hee ever did on the stones, earth, and sands. This man was in Cairo 
before I came thither, and I know not how long after. 

" This great fat lubberly beast would goe through the streets and take off 
the stalles to eat, bread, little baked meats, and fruits, and roots, and no bodie 
denied him, but counted themselves happie that he would do so. He would 
not touch money of any sort ; a very kinde of scorched bacon hogg, hee was 
as fat as he could goe. 

"Other of those saints of Cairo goe but half-naked, and some of them 
are very leane rascalls." — Sundrie the personall Voyages performed by John 
Sanderson, of London, Merchant, begun in October, 1584. Ended in 
October, 1602. — Purchases Pilgrims, vol. ii, p. 1616. 

Note 10, page 30. 

" Here I may fitly take occasion to teach those that purpose to travel into 
Turkey how to behave themselves. If they be set upon by thieves, they 
may defend themselves, if they be strong enough ; but if they be polling 
officers, they must not be contradicted. But neither in their cities, nor in 
their travels, may they strike again, though they be abused and beaten by 
any man, except they be thieves and robbers, for if they do, they shall either 
be put to death, or have their hand cut off. Neither if a man receive a box 
on the ear at any of their hands, must he give one bad word, or look frown- 
ing upon him that smote him ; for then he will strike again, and say, 
' What, Goure ! dost thou curse me, and wish the devil had me ? ' But he 
must kiss his beard, or the skirt of his garment, and smile upon him, and 
then he will let him pass." — BiddulpKs Travels of Four Englishmen, &c. 
J 600 — 11. Harleian Voyages, vol. i, p. 812. 

Note 11, page 31.— Isle of Roda. 

" Ce fut sous le vezyrat de Chahan-Chah, surnomme El Afdhal, et fils 
du celebre Bedr el-Djemaly, qu'elle re9ut le nom de Raoudah, ou Jardin. 
Ce prince avoit affectionne cette isle, et en avoit meme acquis une portion 
assez considerable, qu'il avoit embellie avec soin, et ou il se promenoit fre- 
quemment. II l'appelloit son jardin; cette denomination est restee a l'isle 



374 



NOTES. 



entiere: cependant le veritable JRaoudah ne paroit pas avoir subsiste long- 
temps apres la mort de Chahan-Chah, assassine eni'an 515, (a. d. 1121-2.) 
Le khalife el Amar Behhakam-Allah, que Ton soupconne avec beaucoup de 
vraisemblance d' avoir ete l'instigateur de ee crime, s'empara de tomes les 
proprietes du malheureux vezyr, de son tresor qui renfernioit plusieurs mil- 
lions de pieces d'or, de ses pierreries, de ses chevaux, et de ses armes : la 
maison de plaisance situeedans l'isle enfaisoit aussi partie ; et si le khalyfe 
negligea l'entretenir, c'etoit pour lui en substituer une infiniment plus vaste 
et belle, et sur-tout plus analogue au gout de la personne qui devoit l'oc- 
cuper. 

" Ce prince avoit un penchant particulier pour les Arabes Bedouynes. 
Ay ant appris qu'il y en avoit une, celebre par sa beaute, dans le Said, il y 
alia deguise en Arabe Bedouyn, et apres beaucoup de courses et demarches 
il parvint a la voir. Sa passion en devint alors plus violente ; de retour 
dans son palais, il envoya aupres des parens de la jeune fille un negotiateur 
charge de la demander en raariage pour le khalyfe. On imagine bien que 
la proposition ne fut pas rejetee. Arrive e aupres de son auguste epoux, 
environnee de toute la pompe des grandeurs, la jeune Bedouyne n'en sentit 
pas moins vivement la perte des jouissances, ou plutot de la liberte a la- 
quelle elle etoit accoutumee, et peut-etre aussi 1' absence d'un jeune Arabe de 
ses parens. Par condescendance pour cet amour de la liberte, qui devoit 
lui paroitre fort etrange dans une femrne, le khalyfe fit batir dans l'ile de 
Boudah, sur le bord du Nil, aupres du Jfokhtar,* une maison de plaisance 
d'une etendue et d'une magnificence etonnantes, et que Ton nomma elHou- 
dedje.j- Peut-etre ce nom fut il imagine par la jeune Bedouyne, qui, dans 
ce vaste palais, se trouvoit aussi a l'etroit que dans ces litieres ou les Arabes 
enferment leurs femmes pour les transporter sur des chameaux quand ils 
changent de campement. 

u Le Khalyfe rendoit des visites si assidues a cette belle captive, que les 
Bathenyens,J qui avoient forme le complot de Tassassiner, se mirent en am- 
buscade, dans un four situe a l'extremite du pout du cote de l'ile ; ils fon- 
dirent sur lui au moment ou il passoit, et le poignarderent. Apres samort le 
houdedje fut abandonne, et vers le milieu du quinzieme siecle de Tere vul- 
gaire on n'en connoissoic plus 1' emplacement. 

" Les contes que Ton a faits sur la jeune Bedouyne, sur Ebn Mobahh 
6on cousin, et sur le khalyfe El Amar Behhakam Allah, sont aussi nom- 
breux que ceux d'El Bathal et des Mille et Une N'uits." — Langles, Xotes on 
Korden's Voyage, <jtc, torn, iii, pp. 207-9. 

* Al Mokhtar, " the preferred," — a magnificent garden, planted in the island, 
A.D. 937. 

t " Le houdedje est un liticre dans laquelle les Arabes transportent leurs femmes » 
quand ils changent de campement ; c'est une espece de caisse, garnie de planches ou 
de Tetoffe ; elle est quelquefois decouverte, ou surmontee d'une imperiale, a laquelle 
pend mi rideau, pour cacher les femmes dans la marche. Le houdedje est porte par 
un chameau : ce nom convenoit assez bien a une demeui-e dans laquelle, malgre toute 
son etendue, notre jeune Arabe devoit se trouver aussi genee que dans une litiere.'' — 
L angles. 

X " Les Bathenyens etoient une secte heretique de Musulmans, partisans, pour ne 
pas dire adorateurs, d'Aly. On les nommoit aussi Nossairytes. (Abulfeda.) Les 
ecrivains des croisades les nomment assassins." — Langles. 



NOTES. 



375 



This story will probably remind some of my readers of the song of Mai- 
suna, the Bedouin bride of Moawia, who, sighing for the desert amidst the 
pomp of Damascus, found her greatest comfort in singing its melancholy 
strain in private ; Moawia overheard her, and sent her back to Yemen. 

u The russet suit of camel's hair, 
With spirits light and eye serene, 
Is dearer to my bosom far 

Than all the trappings of a queen. 

The humble tent and murmuring breeze 
That whistles through its fluttering walls, 

My unaspiring fancy please 

Better than towers and splendid halls. 

The attendant colts, that bounding fly 

And frolic by the litter's side, 
Are dearer in Maisuna's eye 

Than gorgeous mules in all their pride. 

The watch-dog's voice, that bays whene'er 

A stranger seeks his master's cot, 
Sounds sweeter in Maisuna's ear 

Than yonder trumpet's loud-drawn note. 

The rustic youth, unspoiled by art, 

Son of my kindred, poor but free, 
Will ever to Maisuna's heart 

Be dearer, pampered fool, than thee !" 

Carlyles Specimens of Arabian Poetry, p. 38. 

Note 12, page 37.— Magic. 

Few perhaps are aware that a species of incantation, extremely similar to 
that which has excited so much interest lately at Cairo, was practised at 
Paiis at the commencement of the last century. I am indebted to the kind- 
ness of my hereditary friend Mr. Morritt for a reference to the following 
account of it, as witnessed by Philip, afterwards the Regent Duke of Orleans, 
and described by himself to the Duke de St. Simon ; from whose Memoirs 
(the fifth volume of the new and complete edition) I extract the passage — 
at full length — in order that the reader may determine how far the well- 
known trick with which the narrative closes, ought to throw suspicion on 
the supernatural character of the rest of the exhibition. 

" Voici une chose qu'il me raconta dans le salon de Marly, dans un coin 
ou nous cansions tete-a-tete, un jour que, sur le point de son depart pour 
l'ltalie, il arrivait de Paris, dont la singularity veriflee par des evenemens 
qai ne se pouvaient prevoir alors m'engage a ne la pas omettre. II etait 
curieux de toutes sortes d'arts et de sciences, et, avec innninient d'esprit, 
avoit eu toute sa vie la faiblesse si commune alacour des enfans d'Henri IL, 
que Catherine de Medicis avait entre autres moeurs apportee d'ltalie. II 



376 



NOTES. 



avait tant qu'il avait pu cherche a voir le diable, sans y avoir pu parvenir, a 
ce qu'il in" a souvent dit, et a avoir des choses extraordinaires, et a savoir 
ravenii*. La Sery avail une petite fille cliez elle de hnit ou neuf ans, qui y 
etait nee et n'en etait jamais sortie, et qui avail l'ignorance et la simplicite 
de cet age et de cette education. Entre autres fripons de curiosites cachees, 
dont ML le Due d'Orleans avail beaucoup vu en sa vie, on lui en produisit 
on chez sa maitresse. qui pretendit faire voir dans un verre rempli d'eau 
tout ce qu'on voudrait savoir. II demanda quelqu'un de jeune et d'innocent 
pour y regarder, et cette petite fille s'y trouva propre. lis s'amuserent 
done a vouloir savoir ce qui se passait alors meme dans des lieux eloignes, 
et la petite fille voyait, et rendait ce qu'elle voyait a mesure. Cet ho mm e 
prononcait tout bas quelque chose sur ce verre rempli d'eau, et aussitot on 
y regardait avec succes. 

" Les duperies que M. le Due d'Orleans avait souvent essuyees, Ten- 
gagercnt a une epreuve qui put le rassurer. II ordouna tout bas a l'oreille 
a un de ses gens d'aller sur-le-cliamp a quatre pas de-la, chez Madame de 
Nancre, de Men examiner qui y etait, ce qui s'y faisait, la position et 
1'ameublement de la chambre. et la situation de tout ce qui s'y passait, et 
sans perdre un moment ni parler a personne de le lui venir dire a l'oreille. 
En un tourne-main la commission fut executee. sans que personne s'apercut 
de ce que e'etait, et la petite fille toujours dans la chambre. Des que M. le 
Due d'Orleans fut ins trait, il dit a la petite fille de regarder dans le verre 
qui etait chez Madame de Nancre, et ce qui s'y passait. Aussitot elle leur 
raconta mot pour mot tout ce qu'y avait vu celui que M. le Due d'Orleans y 
avait envoye. La description du visage, des figures, des vetemens, des gens 
qui y etaient, leur situation dans la chambre, les gens qui jouaient a deux 
tables diflerentes. ceux qui regardaient ou qui causaient assis ou debout, la 
disposition des meubles, en un mot tout. Dans l'instant M. le Due d'Orleans 
y envoya Nancre, qui rapporta avoir tout trouve comme la petite fille l'avait 
dit, et comme le valet qui y avait ete d'abord l'avait rapport e a l'oreille de 
M. le Due d'Orleans. 

u 11 ne me parlait guere de ces choses-la, parce que je prenais la liberie 
lui en faire honte. Je pris celle de le pouiller a ce recit, et de lui dire ce 
que je cms le pouvoir detourner d'aj outer foi et de s'amuser a ces prestiges, 
dans un temps surtout ou il devait avoir 1'esprit occupe de tant de grandea 
choses. Ce n'est pas tout,'" me dit-il ; ' et je ne vous ai conte cela que 
pour venir au reste ;' ettoutde suite il me conta que, encourage par l'exacti- 
tude de ce que la petite fille avait vu de la chambre de Madame de Nancre, 
il avait voulu voir quelque chose de plus important, et ce qui se passerait a 
la mort du roi, mais sans en rechercher le terns qui ne se pouvait voir dans 
ce verre. II le demanda done tout de suite a la petite fille, qui n' avail jamais 
oui parler de Versailles, ni vu personne que lui de la cour. Elle regarda et 
leur expliqua longuement tout ce qu'elle voyait. Elle fit avec justesse la 
description de la chambre du roi a Versailles, et de 1'ameublement qui s'y 
trouva en effet a sa mort. Elle le depeignit paifaitement dan* son lit, et ce 
qui etait debout aupres du lit ou dans la chambre, un petit enfant avec 
l'ordre tenu par Madame de Ventadour, sur laquelle elle s'ecria parce qu'elle 



NOTES. 



377 



Tavait vue chez Mademoiselle de Sery. Elle leur fit connaitre Madame de 
Maintenon, la figure singuliere de Fagon, Madame la Duchesse d' Orleans, 
Madame la Duchesse, Madame la Princesse de Conti; elle s'ecria sur M. ie 
Due d'Orleans : en un mot, elle fit connaitre ce qu'elle voyait la de princes, 
de seigneurs, de domestiques ou valets. Quand elle eut tout dit, M. le Due 
d'Orleans, surpris qu'elle ne leur eut point fait connaitre Monseigneur, 
Monseigneur le Due de Bourgogne, Madame le Duchesse de Bourgogne, ni 
le Due de Berry, lui demanda si elle ne voyait point des figures de telle et 
telle facon. Elle repondit constamment que non, et repeta celles qu'elle 
voyait. C'est ce que M. le Due d'Orleans ne pouvait comprendre, et dont 11 
s'etonna fort avec moi, et en rechercha vainement la raison. L'evenement 
l'expliqua. On etait lors en 1706. Tous quatre etaient alors pleins de vie 
et de sante, et tous quatre moumrent avant le roi. Ce fut la meme chose 
de M. le Prince, de M. le Due et de M. le Prince de Conti, qu'elle ne vit 
point, tandis qu'elle vit les enfans des deux derniers, M. du Maine, les 
siens, et M. le Comte de Toulouse. Mais jusqu'a l'evenement cela demeura 
dans l'obscurite. 

" Cette curiosite achevee, M. le Due d'Orleans voulut savoir ce qn'il 
deviendrait. Alors ce ne fut plus dans le verre. L'homme qui etait la lui 
offrit de le lui montrer comme peint sur la muraille de la chambre, pourvu 
qn'il n'eut point de peur de s'y voir ; et au bout d'un quart d'heure de 
quelques simagrees devant enx tous, la figure de M. le Due d'Orleans, vetu 
comme il i'etait alors et dans sa grandeur naturelle, parat tout-a-coup sur 
la muraille comme en peinture, avec une couionne fermee sur la tete. Elle 
n'etait ni de France, ni d'Espagne, ni d'Angleterre, ni Imperiale. M. le 
Due d'Orleans, qui la considera de tous ses yeux, ne put jamais la deviuer; 
il n'avait jamais vu de semblable. Elle n'avait que quatre cercles, et rien 
au sommet. Cette couronne lui couvrait la tete. 

" De l'obscurite precedente et de celle-ci, je pris occasion de lui remontrer 
la yanite de ces sortes de curiosites, les justes tromperies du diable, que 
Dieu permet pour punir des curiosites qu'il defend, le neant et les tenebres 
qui en resultent au lieu de la lumiere et de la satisfaction qu'on y recherche. 
II etait assurement alors bien eloign e d'etre regent du royaume, et de 
l'imaginer. C'etait peut-etre ce que cette couronne singuliere lui annonyait. 
Tout cela s'etait passe a Palis chez sa maitresse, en presence de leur plus 
etroit intrinseque, la veille du jour qu'il me le raconta, et je l'ai trouve si 
extraordinaire que je lui ai donne place ici, non pour l'approuver, mais poui- 
le rendre." 

A kind communication from M. Hamilton, received at the very moment 
this sheet is passing through the press, enables me to add to the above 
extract another from the first Apology of Justin Martyr, in which, among 
various proofs of the consciousness of the separate spirit, he alleges the 
very art now in vogue in Egypt, with its peculiar characteristic of being 
only practised through the medium of children, in regard to their age, inno- 
cent and pure. His words are as follow : — 

HtKvofiavTtiai fiev yap, tcai ai adia(p6opiuv 7rai6wp t7rc77TLiatic, kui 



378 



NOTES. 



\pvx(*>v avQpu)7r.vii)v KXrjcreig, Kai oi Xsyo^isvoi 7rapa toiq fiayoig ovu* 
po7ro//7Toi, Kai Traptdpoi, Kai ra yiyvofxeva vtto tiov ravra sidoTwv, 
7rsi(TaT<i)Gav vfictQ oti Kai fztTa Oavarov tv aiaQrjaei uaiv ai ipvxai. — 

Apolog. edit. Thirlbii, 1722, p. 27. 

[For full information respecting these Egyptian magicians, see Mr. Lane's 
most valuable " Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," vol. i, 
p. 341, and the Quarterly Review, vol. 59, pp. 195 sqq. — 1847.] 

Note 13, page 40. — The Great Pyramid. 

Yet it would appear to have been open in Abd'allatif s time: — "Cette 
ouverture mene a des passages etroits, a des conduits qui s'etendent jusqu a 
une grande profondeur, a des puits et a des precipices, comme 1'assurent 
les persoimes qui ont le courage de s'y enfoncer ; car il y a un grand nombre 
de gens qu'une folle eupidite et des esperances chimeriques conduisent dans 
Tinterieur de cette edifice. lis s'enfoncent dans ses cavites les plus profondes, 
<et arrivent enfin a un endroit ou il ne leur est plus possible de pousser plus 
avant. Quant au passage le plus frequente, et que Ton suit d'ordinaire, c'est 
un glacis qui conduit vers la partie superieure de la pyramide, ou Ton 
trouve une chambre carree, et dans cette chambre un sarcophage de pierre." 
- — On a secoud visit, he plucked up courage to enter the pyramid in company 
with a large party — but he shall tell his own story :— " Dans un autre visite 
que je rendis aux pyramides, j'entrai dans ce conduit interieur avec plusieurs 
personn.es, et je penetrai jusqu' aux deux tiers environ; mais ay ant perdu 
connoissance par un effet de la frayeur que m'inspiroit cette montee, je 
redescendis a demi mort.'' — Relation, &c, p. 175. 

" A most dreadful passage, and no less cumbersome, not above a yard in 
breadth and four feet in height, each stone containing that measure, so that, 
always stooping and sometimes creeping by reason of the rubbish, we de- 
scended (not by stairs, but as down the steep of a hill) 100 feet, where the 
place for a little circuit enlarged, and the fearful descent continued, which 
they say none ever durst attempt any further, save that a Bassa of Cairo, 
curious to search into the secrets thereof, caused divers condemned persons 
to undertake the performance well stored with lights and other provision, 
and that some of them ascended again well nigh thirty miles off in the 
deserts. A fable devised only to beget wonder. But others have written 
that at the bottom there is a spacious pit, eighty and six cubits deep, filled 
at the overflow by concealed conduits ; in the midst a little island, and on 
that a tomb containing the body of Cheops, a king of Egypt, and the builder 
of this Pyramis, which with the truth hath a greater affinity. For since 
I have been told by one out of his own experience that, in the utter- 
most depth, there is a large square place (though without water) into which 
he was led by another entry opening to the south, known but to few, (that 
now open being shut by some order,) and entered at this place where we 
feared to descend."* — Sandys. 

* Was not this the central chamber rediscovered (as it would appear) by Caviglia? 



NOTES. 



379 



9 Au fond de ceste descente y a une espace a main gauche, de laquelle se 
void nne autre descente, qui va beaucoup plus bas sous la Pyramide, mais 
1'entree en est muree." — Relation des Voyages de M. de Breves, &c, Paris, 
4to, 1630.— p. 277.* 

I transcribe from Murtadi's " Merveilles d'Egypte" the following speci- 
men of the popular Arab traditions regarding the Pyramids. 

" Apres que la Pyramide fut ouverte, le moude la vint voir par curiosite 
pendant quelques annees, plusieurs entrant dedans, et les uns en revenaut 
sans incommodite, les autres y perissant. Un jour il se rencontra qu'une 
troupe de jeunes hommes, au nombre de plus de vingt, jurerent d'y entrer, 
pourvu que rien ne les en empeschast, et de pousser tant qu'ils fussent 
arrivez jusques aii bout. lis prindrent done avec eux a boire et a manger 
pour deux mois. lis prindrent aussi des plaques de fer et des barres, des 
chandelles de cire et des lanternes, de la mesche et de l'huile, des haches, 
des serpes, et d' autres tranchans, et entrerent dans la Pyramide. 

" La pluspait d'entre eux descendirent de la premiere glissade et de la 
seconde, et passerent sous la terre de la Pyrainide ou ils virent des chauve- 
souris grandes comme des aigles noires, qui commencerent a leurfrapper le 
visage avec beaucoup de violence. Mais ils souffrirent constamment cette 
incommodite, et ne cesserent d'avancer jusques a ce qu'ils parvindrent a un 
lieu estroit d'ou il sortoit un vent impetueux etfroid extraordinairement, sans 
qu'ils peussent reconnoistre d'ou il venoit ny ou il alloit. Ils s'avancerent 
pour entrer dans ce destroit, et alors leurs chandelles commencerent a 
s'esteindre, ce qui les obligea de les enfermer dans leurs lanternes ; puis ils 
entrerent, mais le detroit se trouva presque entierement joint et clos devant 
eux. Sur quoy, l'un d'eux dist aux autres, ' Liez moy avec une corde par 
le milieu du corps, et je me hazarderay de passer outre, a la charge que, 
s'il m' arrive quelque accident, vous me retirerez aussi-tost a vous.' 11 y 
avoit a 1'entree du destroit de grands vaisseaux vuides faits de pierre en 
forme de bieres, avec leurs couvercles a coste, ce qui leur fist connoistre 
que ceux qui les avoient mis la les avoient preparez pour leurs morts, et que 
pour parvenir jusques a leurs thresors et a leurs richesses, il falloit passer 
par ce destroit. Ils lierent done leur campagnon avec des cordes, afin qu'il 
se hazardast de franchir ce passage. 

" Mais incontinent le destroit se ferma sur luy, et ils entendirent le bruit 
du fracassement de ses os. Ils tirerent les cordes a eux, mais ils ne le 
peuvent retirer. Puis il leur vint une voix espouvantable du creux de cette 
caverne, qui les troubla et les aveugla si bien qu'ils tomberent immobiles et 
insensibles. 

" Ils revindrent a eux quelque temps apres, et chercherent a sortir, 
estant bien empeschez de leurs affaires. Enfin ils revindrent apres beau- 
coup de peine, horsmis quelques uns d'eux qui tomberent sous la glissade. 
Estant sortis dans la plaine, ils s'assirent ensemble tous estonnez de ce qui 
leur estoit arrive, et alors voicy que tout d'un coup la terre se fendit devant 
eux et leur jetta leur compagnon niort, qui demeura d'abord immobile, puis 

* De Breves, French Ambassador at the Porte, -visited the Pyramids on his return 
to France in 1605. 



3S0 



NOTES. 



deux heures apres cominenca a remuer, et leur parla en une langue qyfUs 
n'entendoieut point; car ce n'estoit pas de l'Arabe ; mais quelque temps 
apres quelqu'un des habitans de la Haute Egypte le leur iuterpreta, et leur 
dit qu'il Touloit dire cecy, ' C'est icy la recompense de ceux qui tasehent de 
s'emparer de ce qui ne leur appartient pas !' Apres ces mots leur compag- 
non leur parut mort comme auparavant, c'est pourquoy ils l'euterrerent en 
la mesme place.'' — Merveilles d'Egypte, p. 55. 

Note 14, Page 42. 

Cheops is doubtless the " Priest Saiouph" of Murtadi, who lived till the 
time of King Pharaan, under whose reign the deluge took place. " II 
faisoit sa demeure dans la pyramide maritime (ou septentrional e) laquelle 
pyramide estoit une temple des astres, ou il y avoit une figure du Soleil, et 
une de la Lune, qui parloient toutes les deux." — Merveilles cTEgypte, 
p. 19. 

Note 15, Page 44. — Caviglia. 

" His pursuits have unsettled many of those notions which he probably 
received in childhood, and have given him, I suspect, no consoling equiva- 
lent. I remembered, however, that there lay in his cottage" (at Memphis) 
" one of the finest uninspired volumes ever penned," the 1 Thoughts of Pas- 
cal,' "and I could not help wishing that, while looking for the Temple of 
Tulcan, he might find a nobler prize." — Scenes and I??ipressions in Egypt 
and Italy, 1824, p. 197. The wish— the prayer, of the kind and excellent 
writer has been answered. 

Note 16, Page 47. 

The granite casing of the Pyramid of Mycerinus appears to have been 
entire in the sixteenth century. " C'est un edifice merveilleux," says Villa- 
mont in 1589, "pour estre tout basty entierement de raarbre, et s'estre 
conserve du tout en son entier. II n'y a non plus de degrez au dehors et 
au dedans pour y monter qu'en la seconde."* — Voyages, &c, p. 581. " La 
troisiesme Pyramide," says a much more accurate and trustworthy traveller, 
the naturalist Belon, (in 1548,) " est encore en son entier, n'ayant aucune 
tache de mine. Ceste troisiesme Pyramide n'a non plus d'ouverture en 
toute la masse, qui si elle venoit d'estre faite : car la pierre dont elle est 
faite est dune sorte de marbre noninie Basalten, autrement appelle lapis 
iEthiopicus, qui est plus dur que le fin fer. Ceste sorte de pierre est celle 
dont pour la plus grande partie tous les sphinges Egyptiens out este mis en 
sculpture, tels qu'on voit a Rome au Capitole, et qui ont este autrefois 
entaillez paries Egyptiens." — Observations de plusieurs singularitez, &c. — 
c. 45, fol. 204, verso, edit. 1555. 

The exterior coating of the other two pyramids was entire at the com- 
mencement of the thirteenth century: — "Ces pierres sont revetues d'ecri- 
ture dans cet ancien caractere dont on ignore aujourd'hui la valeur. Ces 

* Was the Second Pyramid entire also in the time of Villamont? 



NOTES. 



381 



inscriptions sont en si grand nombre que, si Ton vouloit copier sur du papier 
celles seulement que Ton voit sur la surface de ces deux pyramides, on en 
rempliroit plus de dix mille pages." — AbaTallatlf, Relation, &c, p. 177. 

All the early Arab writers bear witness to the existence of these inscrip- 
tions : — see the passages collected by De Sacy, Notes to Abd'allatif, pp. 
221 sqq., or in Pinkerton's Voyages, &c, vol. 15, p. 825. Mandeville, 
about 3 330,* and Btldensel, + in 1336, mention them, but in Bakoui's 
time, 1403, they would seem to have totally disappeared. " On pretend," 
says he, " que sur ces pyramides qui etoient couvertes de sculpture il y 
avoit une inscription en caracteres mousnads, (anciennes lettres Hemy- 
arites,) par laquelle il etoit dit que leur construction etoit une preuve de 
la puissance des Egyptiens, et qu'il etait plus facile de les detruire que de 
les elever." — IVotices des JISS. de la Bibliotheque du JRoi, torn. 2, 
p. 457. 

Yet Vansleb, in 1672, asserts that he saw upon some of the Pyramids 
hieroglyphic characters, but he had not time to copy them. — Present State 
of Egypt, &c, p. 84. 

" To reconcile the silence of the Greek and Latin writers, on the subject 
of the inscriptions on the Pyramids, with the testimony of the Arab writers, 
Mr. White makes a judicious observation, which I transcribe : k Such 

* Mandeville's whole description is curious: — "Now I schalle speke of another 
thing, that is bezonde Babyloyne, above the node of Nyle, toward the desert, betwene 
Africk and Egypt, — that is to seyn, of the Gerneres of Joseph that he lete make, for 
to kepe the greynes for the perile of the dere zeres. Thei ben made of ston, full 
welle made of masonries' craft, of the whiche two ben merveyliouse grete and hye, and 
the tothere ne ben not so gret; and every Garner hath a xate [gate'] for to entre 
withinne, a lytille high i fro the Erthe, for the lond is wasted and fallen sithe the 
Gerners were made. And withinne thei ben alle fulle of serpentes. And aboven the 
Gerneres without en, ben many scriptures of dyverse languages. And sum men seyn, 
that thei ben sepultures of grete Lordes that weren sometyme : but that is not trewe : 
for alle the comoun rymour and speche is of alle the pepie there, both fer and nere, 
that thei ben the Gerneres of Joseph. And so fynden thei in here Scriptures and in 
here Cronycles. On that other partie, zif thei weren sepultures, thei sholden not 
ben voyd withinne. For yee may well knowe that tombes and sepultures ne ben not 
made of such gretnesse, ne of such highnesse. Wherefore it is not to believe that 
thei ben tombes or sepultures." — Foiage, &c, p. 63. 

Does Sir John intend to intimate that the Pyramids of Cephrenes and Mycerinus 
were open in his time ? 

t Baldensel also found a Latin inscription of six lines, sculptured on a stone in one 
of the Pyramids, and beginning in the following affecting strain : — 

" Vidi pyramidas sine te, dulcissime frater ! 
Et tibi, quod potui, lacrymas hie mcesta profudi, 
Et, nostri memorem luctus, hanc sculpo querelam." 

The concluding lines, as given by him, are unintelhgible. — Hodoeporicon, fyc. ap. 
Canisii Lectiones Antiquas, t. 4, p. 342. 

Ludolf, rector of Suchen, who performed his pilgrimage to Jerusalem the same 
year as Baldensel, furnishes another copy of this inscription, which is found, says he, 
along with other Latin inscriptions, on the wall of one of the two larger pyramids : 
its second, third, and fourth faces being similarly sculptured with inscriptions in 
Greek, Hebrew, and an unknown character. Ludolf 's work being extremely scarce, 
I transcribe the original passage from the folio edition printed by Eggestein at Stras- 
bur^ii, (but without name, place, or date, paging, or signature,) in the fifteenth cen- 
tury : — M Item, juxta Babiloniam Novam, trans fluvium Nyli, versus desertum Egypti, 
stant quamplurima mire magnitudinis antiquoruin monumenta, ex lapidibus sectis 
facta; in quibus sunt duo maxima e: olira pulcherrima sepulchra quadrata, in cujus 
unius pariete uno Latine, in secundo Greece, in tertio Hebraice, in quarto multa quae 
ignorantur scripta sunt et sculpta. Sed in primo pariete quo scripte erant Latine, in 

quantum pro vetustate discerni potest, hi versus sunt insculpti, &.c Haec 

monumenta 1 horrea Pharonis ' ab incolis vocantur." 



382 



NOTES. 



abundance of hieroglypliical characters were seen in every part of Egypt 
that they would fail of exciting admiration in the observers, and be deemed 
unworthy of particular relation. Owing to this it is, that, in the descrip- 
tion of the obelisks, which from the ground to the very summit are covered 
with hieroglyphics, this circumstance has remained unnoticed by the greater 
part of the ancients.' "— De Sacy. 

Note 17, Page 48. 

Do we not recognise another well-known tale in Bakoui's account of the 
great and ancient city of Ansina, (Antinopolis,) to the east of the Nile, 
where the inhabitants had all been changed into stone, and were to be seen, 
some asleep, some awake, each in the different attitude and occupation he 
had been engaged in when the spell took effect ? Ansina was called, in 
Edrisi's time, (a.d. 1153,) the City of Magicians, those opposed to Moses 
by Pharaoh having been summoned by him from that town. — Geogr. Nub., 
p. 41. I wonder they did not ascribe the transformation to the rod of Moses. 

Ebn Haukul, however, in the tenth century, brings Pharaoh's magicians 
from Bouseir. 

Note 18, Page 48. 

" L'Egypte etoit alors, disent ils, partagee en quatre-vingts-cinq provinces, 
dont il y en avoit quarante-cinq dans la partie basse et quarante dans la 
haute. Et en chaque province il y avoit un gouverneur, du nombre des 
princes des prestres, qui sont ceux dont Dieu parle dans l'histoire de 
Pharaon, quand il dit, 1 Envoye par les villes des herauts, qui amenent vers 
toy tons les scavans magiciens,' il entend ces Gouverneurs. L'on dit que 
les villes des Princes des Magiciens avoient este basties par Busire. Le 
Prestre qui servoit les astres estoit sept ans en charge, et quand il estoit 
parvenu a ce degre, on le nommoit Cater, comme qui diroit Maistre des 
Influences* et alors il prenoit seance avec le Boy, en mesme rang, et le 
Boy menoit ses bestes a. l'abrevoir et les ramenoit (c'est a dire, faisoit 
toutes les affaires) selon son conseil. Quand il le voyoit venir, il se levoit 
pour le recevoir, alloit au devant de luy et le faisoit asseoir. Puis les 
Prestres s'approchoient, et avec eux les Maistres des Arts, qui se tenoient 
debout au dessous du Cater. Chaque Prestre avoit un Astre a servir parti- 
culierement, sans qu'il luy fust permis d'en servir aucun autre, et on le 
nommoit le serviteur de tel astre, tout de mesme que les Arabes servoient 
chacun son dieu, et se nommount Gabdosamse, Gabdiagoth, Gabdolgasi, 
c'est a dire, Serviteur de Samse ou du Soleil, Serviteur de Jagots, Serviteur 
du Gazi. Le Cater disoit done au Prestre : ' Ou est aujourd'hui 1' astre que 
tu sers?' et le Prestre respondit, '11 est en tel signe, tel degre, telle 
minute.' Puis il demandoit la mesme chose a un autre, et quand il avoit 

* " Les prestres estoient distinguez en sept ordres, dont le premier estoit celuy des 
Caters, qui estoient ceux qui servoient tous les sept astres, chaque astre sept ans. 
Avec le Cater estoit le Docteur Universel. Le second ordre appartenoit a ceux qui 
servoient six astres, et qui estoient ceux qui suivoient immediatement apres le pre- 
mier degre. Apres cela ils nommoient celuy qui en servoit cinq et audessous, le 
guivant et rinferieur." — Ibid. p. 46. 



NOTES, 



383 



eu response de tons, et qu'il scavoit la position de tons les astres, il s'ad- 
dressoit au Roy, et luy parloit ainsi : ' II est a propos que vous fassiez 
aujourd'hui telle chose, que vous envoyez telle armee en tel lieu, que vous 
vous vestiez de telle maniere, que vous parliez en tel temps, que vous 
fassiez assemblee en tel temps ; ' et de mesme de tout ce qu'il trouvoit bon 
dans toutes les affaires du Eoy, et dans tout le gouvernement de son Eoy- 
aume. Le Eoy escrivoit tout ce que disoit le Cater, et tout ce qu'il desap- 
prouvoit. 

" Puis il se tournoit vers les artisans, et leur parloit ainsi. 1 Grave, toy, 
telle figure sur telle pierre,' ' et toy, plante tel arbre,' ' et toy, fais le plan 
geometrique de tel ouvrage,' et ainsi de suite a tous, depuis le premier jus- 
ques au dernier. Incontinent ils sortoient tous, et se rendoient prompte- 
ment chacun a sa boutique, ou ils mettoient la main a l'ceuvre, travaillant 
aux ouvrages qui leur avoient ete commandez, et suivant exactement le 
dessein qui leur avoit este present par le Cater, sans s'en eloigner aucune- 
ment. Ils marquoient ce jour la dans le registre des ouvrages qui s'y 
faisoient, et le registre estoit plie, et mis en garde dans les thresors du 
Eoy. 

" Leurs affaires se faisoient selon cet ordre ; puis le Eoy, quand ill ay 
survenoit quelque affaire, faisoit assembler les prestres hors la ville de 
Memphis, et le peuple s'assembloit dans les grandes rues de la mesme ville. 
Alors ils entroient l'un apres r autre chacun en son rang, le tambour bat- 
tant devant eux pour faire assembler le monde, et chacun faisoit voir quelque 
trait, merveilleux de sa magie et de sa sagesse. L'un faisoit paroitre sur 
son visage, aux yeux de ceux qui le regardoient, une lumiere pareille a 
celle du soleil ; de sorte que personne ne pouvoit arrester sa veue sur luy. 
L'autre paroissoit revestu d'une robe chamarree de pierreries de diverses 
couleurs, vertes, ou rouges, ou jaunes, ou tissue d'or. Un autre venoit 
monte sur un lyon, environne de gi*ands serpens entortillez autour de luy 
en forme de cengles. Un autre s'avancoit couvert d'un dais ou pavilion 
compose de lumiere. Un autre paroissoit environne d'un feu tournoyant 
autour de luy, en sorte que personne ne le pouvoit approcher. Un autre se 
faisoit voir avec des oyseaux terribles voltigeans autour de sa teste, et tre- 
moussans de leurs aisles, comme des aigles noires et des vaultours. Un 
autre faisoit paroistre en l'air devant luy des personnages effroyables et 
espouvantables, et des serpens aislez. Enfin, chacun faisoit ce que luy 
enseignoit son astre qu'il servoit : mais tout cela n'estoit que phantosme et 
illusion, sans aucune verite " — the gramarye of European superstition. — 
Murtadi, Merveilles (TEgypte, pp. 5 — 10. 

Note 19, Page 51. — Spirits of the Pyramids. 

" Tous ces esprits sont veus manifestement par ceux, qui approchent 
d'eux et des lieux de leur retraite, et y hantent longtemps. II y a pour 
tous certaines offrandes particulieres, par le moyen desquelles il se peut 
faire que les thresors des Birba et des Pyramides paroissent, et qu'il se 
forme amitie et familiarite entre les hommes et les esprits, suivant ce que 
les sages out estably." — Murtadi, Merveilles dEgypte, p. (36. 



384 



NOTES. 



" Les fables que les Arabes nous racontent sur ces gardiens et ces esprits 
attaches aux Pyramides, ne seroient-elles pas fondees sur les figures mon- 
strueuses disposees probablement a 1'entour de ces monuments, et dont la 
sphinx'est la seule qui subsiste?" — Langles, Notes on Norden, t. 3, p. 272. 

Note 20, Page 52.— The Sphinx. 

" On dit que c'estoit anciennement un oracle, qui donnoit response a 
ceux qui luy parloient et demandoient son avis et conseil en beaucoup de 
choses." — De Breves, p. 279. 

Abd'allatif speaks of the Sphinx with great admiration: " On voit sur la 
figure une teinte rougeatre et un vernis rouge, qui a tout l'eclat de la 
fmicheur. Cette figure est tres belle, et sa bouche porte l'empreinte des 
graces et de la beaute. On diroit qu'elle sourit gracieusement."— Relation, 
&c, p. 179. 

The face was mutilated by a fanatic sheikh of the Souffee sect, in 1879, 
" et depuis cette epoche, les sables inondent le territoire de Djizeh." — 
Langles, Notes on Norden, t. 3, p. 339. 

Note 21, Page 53. — Heliopolis. 

The name Heliopolis or Beth-Shemesh, the House — is still preserved in 
that of the adjacent spring Ain-Shems, the Fountain — of the Sun. 

Abd'allatif describes Ain-Shems as a small town, " qui etoit entouree 
d'un mur, que Ton reconnoit encore aujourd'hui, quoique detruit. On voit 
facilement que ces ruines appartiennent a un temple; on y trouve des 
figures effrayantes et colossales de pierre de taille, qui ont plus de trente 
coudees de long, et dont tons les membres sont dans des dimensions pro- 
portionees. De ces figures, les unes etoient debout sur des piedestaux; les 
autres assises dans differentes positions singulieres, et avec une parfaite 
regularite. La porte de la ville subsiste encore aujourd'hui. La plupart 
de ces pierres sont couvertes de figures d'hommes et d' autres animaux, et 
d'un grand nombre d'inscriptions en caractere inconnu. II est rare de 
rencontrer une pierre qui n'offre, ou une inscription, ou quelque objet grave 
en creux, ou une figure en relief." 

He proceeds to mention, " les deux obelisques si renommes, que Ton 
appelle les deux aiguilles de Pharaon" — one of them erect, " la tete recou- 
verte d'un espece de chapeau en cuivre, en forme d'entonnoir, qui descend 
jusqu'a trois coudees environ du sommet," — the other lying on the ground 
broken in two, with its cap taken away. " Autour de ces obelisques il y 
en a une multitude d' autres qu'on ne sauroit compter: ceux-ci n'ont que la 
moitie ou le tiers de la hauteur des grands. Parmi ces petits obelisques, on 
n'en voit guere qui soient d'une seule pierre ; la plupart sont de plusieurs 
pieces rapportees. Le plus grand nombre ont ete renverses, mais leurs 
bases sont encore en place." — Relation, &c, pp. 180-181. 

Both the obelisks were erect in 1118, and De Sacy's conjecture is pro- 
bably correct, that we should read 556 for 656 — the year of the Hegira in 
which the one mentioned by Abd'allatif as lying broken on the ground 



NOTES. 



385 



fell — corresponding to the year of Christ 1160. Inside of the fallen obe- 
lisk (of which not a trace is now to be seen) was found, according to 
Makrisi, our authority for the above date, nearly two hundred quintals of 
copper, and from its summit copper was taken of the value of ten thousand 
dinars. These copper caps (on which, according to a writer cited by 
Makrisi, the figure of a man, seated and looking towards the east, was 
engraved) were seen by Denys de Telmayre, a.d. 775; and Ephraim Syrus 
mentions them in his commentary on Isaiah, in the fourth century. — De Sacy . 

The surviving obelisk was supposed by the Arabs to have been erected 
by Hushenk the Just, father of the Pischdadian dynasty of Persia, and 
famous for his doughty deeds in Peri-land, warring against the Dives. The 
sculptured figures, which were to be seen at Ain-Shems in Bakoui's time, 
were similarly attributed to the Genies. 

Close to Heliopolis is Mataria, of equal interest in Christian tradition as 
the resting-place of the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary, and our Saviour on the 
Flight into Egypt, and in natural history for its Garden of Balsam — a shrub 
brought originally (according to Arabic tradition) from Yemen by the 
Queen of Sheba as a present to Solomon, and planted by him in the gardens 
of Jericho, and thence brought to Egypt by Cleopatra. All the old travel- 
lers, Arab and Christian, mention this garden with deep interest. The 
Balsam of Jericho, or Balm of Gilead, has long been lost; it may not be 
uninteresting to trace the gradual extinction of that of Mataria. 

The Christians, we are informed by an Arab writer, cited by D'Herbelot, 
attached a peculiar religious value to the Balm of Mataria, using it " pour 
faire ce que les Grecs et les autres Chretiens Orientaux appellent myron, 
qui est la chreme de la confirmation." " Les souverains Chretiens," says 
Makrisi, " le recherchent a l'envi les uns des autres, et tous les Chretiens, 
en general, l'ont en grande estime ; il ne croient point qu'un Chretien soit 
devenu parfait Chretien, si Ton ne met un peu d'huile de baume dans l'eau 
baptismale, quand on Fy plonge."* — De Sacy, Notes on Abd'allatif, p. 88. 

The Balm of Mataria was also indispensable at the coronation of the 
European sovereigns :— 

"Not all the water in the rough rude sea 
Can wash the balm from an anointed king ! " 

* The Greek word, which the French have softened into creme, is retained with 
greater purity in the chrism or chrisome of our old English writers. 

Till the revisal of the liturgy in 1551, the chrism or consecrated oil was applied 
immediately after baptismal immersion ; the infant's head was then enveloped in the 
chrisome-clvth, a vesture of white linen, originally, in all probability, emblematical of 
those robes of righteousness provided for the redeemed soul by the Saviour, and 
wrapped in which, by an affecting image, its little body was consigned to rest, if the 
Almighty was pleased to recal the spirit he had given within a month after birth. 
Such an infant was called a chrisome-child, " Every morning," says Jeremy Taylor, 
alluding probably to the beautiful idea that the smiles of infants are the medium of 
their converse with angels, " creeps out of a dark cloud, leaving behind it an igno- 
rance and silence deep as midnight, and undiscerned as are the phantasms that make 
a chrisom-child to smile." And perhaps, to a thoughtful mind, Mrs. Quickh "s com- 
parison of Falstaff's death to the peaceful departure of a chrisom-child is, in the 
reflections it suggests, the most awful in the whole compass of literature. In process 
of time the word chrisom came to be used indifferently for the unction, the vesture, 
and the infant ; it is in the last sense only that it now survives, as heading the most 
numerous column in the London bills of mortality. 



c c 



386 



NOTES. 



The first writer, I "believe, who mentions it, is the author of the Apocry- 
phal Gospel of the Infancy of Christ — a work supposed to have been 
translated from a Greek original of ancient date, — p. 69, S ikes' Edition, 
1697. 

Abd'allatif gives a minute account of the plant, and of the method of 
gathering the balm. " On le cultive," he says, " dans un lieu enclos, et 
soigneusement garde, de l'etendue de sept feddans." — p. 20-1. 

The garden, Ebn al Ouardi tells us, in the thirteenth century, was a mile 
square — the only spot (and this assertion, as old as Ebn Haukul's time, is 
reiterated by every traveller) where it was preserved. De Salignac, in 
1522, describes this garden as two bow-shots long, by a stone's cast broad. 

Sir John Mandeville, about 1330 — (his authority is not to be contemned 
while he treats of the well-known regions of Egypt, Mount Sinai, and 
Palestine) — has dedicated a chapter of his marvellous narrative to the 
s Field of Balsam,' which he asserts would nowhere else bear fruit, nor even 
there, unless under the culture of Christian gardeners. They call the tree, 
he says, Enonchbahe, the fruit abebissam, the liquor or gum, guybaJse. 
The incisions were made with bones or stones, never with iron, or the gum 
would be corrupted. It was an infallible specific for fifty different diseases, 
but was very rarely to be obtained pure. — Voiage, &c, p. 60. 

One tree only existed in Bakoui's time, (1403,) which, he says, "en 
commencant a pousser, ressemble au grenadier et au hanna; on en tire la 
baume dans des vases de verre. II s'en fait un grand commerce ; on compte 
qu'on en recueille pat- un an 200 livres d'Egypte ; il y a la un Chretien, qui 
seul a le secret de la preparer et de la purifier." 

But the fullest account of this garden is to be found in Breydenbach's 
crnious folio, the " Peregrinatio in Montem Syon, ad venerandum Christi 
sepulchrum, atque in Montem Synai, ad divam Yirginem et Martyrem Kathe- 
rinam," performed in 1483, and printed at Mentz, in I486. Arriving from 
Mount Sinai, weary and way-worn, and having for many days tasted only 
the foul water of the desert, one can well imagine his delight in welcoming 
the "sweet, clear, and cold" waters of Mataria, and reposing in a "spa- 
cious and delicious " edifice, built over the fountain of the Virgin, its 
windows opening on the garden, and completely perfumed by the fragrance 
of the balsam. This ' palace,' as a contemporary of Breydenbach's calls it, 
was built by the Soldan, wbo paid it an annual visit at the season when the 
balm was gathered. The earliest and choicest balm was obtained in Decem- 
ber, incisions being made thrice in that month, and the produce was reserved 
exclusively for the Soldan, who made presents of it to the Cham of Tartary, 
Prester John, Xanssa Lord of the Tartars, and the Grand Turk; the sub- 
sequent produce was sold, but much adulterated. 

Dismissing their camels here, Breydenbach and his companions rested for 
the remainder of the day. after sending to Cairo for a dragoman, without 
whose escort no Christians were allowed to enter. Wine, they complain, 
was the only luxury they could not obtain here ; everything else was to be 
had in abundance, and on reasonable terms. 

When the Holy Family, on their flight from Egypt, arrived at Mataria, 



NOTES. 



387 



they went from house to house, asking, but in vain, for a cup of water — 
faint, thirsty, and sorrowful, the Virgin sat down to rest herself, when sud- 
denly the sacred fountain sprang forth at her side. The balsam, adds Brey- 
denbach, with fond and amiable superstition, refuses to yield her produce to 
any irrigation save that of the fountain of the Virgin.* 

In Breydenbach's time, therefore, the garden appears to have been flou- 
rishing. Shortly afterwards, most unaccountably, the balsam plants — for 
the single shrub mentioned by Bakoui would seem to have been extensively 
propagated — all died out — whether through carelessness of the gardener, 
through fraud and envy of the Jews, or through religion and piety being 
offended, no one could tell ; " however that may be," says Peter Martyr, 
who visited Mataria in 1502, " all those plants have perished from the very 
roots, nor does the slightest trace of them remain." This must have been 
some years before his visit, as the interior of the Sultan's palace, deserted 
ever since the balm failed, had already fallen to ruin. 

Baumgarten, five years afterwards, tells the same tale, adding, that " the 
balm failing, a neighbouring fountain was dried, which, as they told us, used 
to moisten the trees, and make them fruitful." The fountain, however, was 
still as sweet and plentiful as ever, when the plenipotentiary of Castile was 
there, who tells his sovereigns, in elegant latinity, that though water was 
forbidden him by his physicians, he could not, remembering who had bathed 
in that fountain, abstain from taking three such copious draughts of it, that 
his stomach swelled to such a degree that he was obliged to loosen his 
girdle. 

One solitary plant, however, appears to have been recovered, and the 
fountain (Baumgarten would have supposed by sympathy) had sprung up 
again, when Leo Africanus, the protege of Leo X., finished that ' golden 
volume,' his Description of Africa, in 1526. "At Amalthria," says he, 
" there is a garden containing the only balm tree, (for in the whole world 
beside there is not any other tree that beareth true balm,) growing in the 
midst of a large fountain, and having a short stock or body, bearing leaves 
like vine-leaves, but not so long ; and this tree, they say, would utterly 
wither and decay, if the water of the fountain should chance to be dimin- 
ished. The garden is surrounded with a strong wall,** (in Peter Martyr's 
time only by a mound of earth,) " whereinto no man may enter without the 
special favour and licence of the Governor." 

" lis sont dedans un grand jardin," says Belon, in 1548, "enfermez en 
un petit parquet de muraille, que Ton dit y avoir este fait depuis que ]e Turc 
a oste l'Egypte des mains du Souldan; et dit on que ce fut un Bacha, qui 
estoit lieutenant pour le Turc, qui les estima dignes d' avoir closture a part 
eux. Lorsque les veismes, il n'y en avoit que neuf ou dix plantes, qui ne 
rendent aucune liqueur." — Observations, &c, p. 195. 

These plants, being totally withered, were in 1575 replaced by forty fresh 

* Peter Martyr says that laches, King of Cyprus, with permission of Caytbeius, 
(Qaetbai e' Zaheree,) the Sultan, attempted to rear it in Cyprus, irrigating it with 
water brought from Mataria ; but the plant would not live. — Legatio Babylonica 
lib. 3. 



c c 2 



388 



NOTES. 



cuttings from Mecca, which had also perished, however, through the negli- 
gence of the gardener, in 1580, when Prosper Alpinus (who lays the scene 
of his " Dialogus de Balsamo" in the garden of Mataria) visited the spot. 

Another supply had been procured before De Breves' visit, in ] 605. He 
speaks of the garden as " garde avec grand soin ; et avant que d'y entrer, 
le Bostandji ou jardinier pria un chacim de ne point toucher aux plantes, 
La dedans nous visnies sept ou huits petits arbrisseaux de baunie, ayant 
chacun son quarreau a part; ils sont fort petits, de la hauteur d'un pan et 
demy, ou deux, ayant la feuille petite comme de la marjolaine sauvage, ses 
branches fort desnuees de feuilles. Le Bostandji nous donna deux ou trots 
petites phioles de baume, et un petit du bois ; il rend une fort bonne odeur. 
Nous en vismes un qui avoit este incise, qui distilloit sa liqueur dans une 
petite phiole. En nous promenant dans ledit jardin, quelqu'un des nostres, 
ayant marche sur une des dites plantes, en rompit une branche tout a fait ; 
ce qu' ayant appercu le pauvre jardinier, il en devint palle et transi de dou- 
leur et de frayeur, comme s'il eust este condamne a la mort, et se deses- 
peroit, disant qu' autre que sa vie ne pouvoit reparer ce dommage. le sca- 
chant le Grand Seigneur ou le Bassa ; car ceux qui sont a la garde de ces 
plantes en respondent sur leur teste. En fin on appaisa ce pauvre homme 
avec un peu d'argent qu'on luy donna." — Relation, &e., p. 271. 

Two plants only, and almost dead, existed in 1612, when Brenning visited 
Mataria. Sandys mentions one — " the whole remnant of that store which 
this orchard produced, destroyed by the Turks, or envy of the Jews, as by 
the others reported." 

This last survivor perished in 1615, in consequence of an excessive inun- 
dation of the Kile. 

Thevenot's account of Mataria, in 1657, throws so much light on the 
preceding descriptions, and gives so accurate an idea of the present appear- 
ance of the garden and its facilities for pic-nics, that I cannot resist tran- 
scribing it : — " Vous y voyez une petite salle presque quarree, qui autrefois 
etoit une simple grotte, maintenant elle est enclose avec un jardin, dont on 
a le soin; au commencement de cette salle, a main gauche, est un bassin 

qui est a rez-de-chaussee du pave, un peu plus long que large 

L'eau qui vient en ce bassin de cette salle, et partout-le jardin, se tire par 
deux boeufs, qui font tourner une sakidans le cour, parlemoyen de laquelle 

ils elevent cette eau Apres avoir vu cette salle, on passe dans 

un grand jardin, enferme aussi de niurailles, ou il y a plusieurs arbres, mais 
entr'autres il y a un gros sycomore, ou figuier de Pharaon, fort vieux, qui 
porte toutefois du fruit tous les ans ; on dit que la Yierge passant par la 
aupres avec son fils Jesus, et voyant que des gens la poursuivoient, le figuier 
s'ouvrit, et la Yierge y etant entree dedans, il se referma ; puis ces gens 
etant passez, il se rouvrit, et resta toujours ainsi ouvert jusqu'a l'annee 
1656, que le morceau qui s'etoit separe du tronc fut rompu Ce 

* " The Copts say, that when our Lord Jesus Christ and his most boly mother hid 
themselves in this opening of the Sycamore, they saved themselves from the soldiers' 



NOTES. 



389 



jardin est assez agreable pour se reposer, et on y dine ordinairement dans 
quelque allee couverte d'orangers et de limoniers, dont il y a si grande quan- 
tity et qui font un tel ombrage, que le soleil n'y passe point du tout, mais 
ils sont si has, qu'il faut se baisser extremementpour passer en plusieurs de 
ces allees, au milieu desquelles il y a des canaux faits pour conduire l'eau. 
par tout le jardin ; on vous fait passer l'eau par 1' allee ou vous etes, et vous 
y faites rafraichir votre vin; mais ilfaut porter la ce que vous voulez man- 
ger, car on n'y trouve que des Granges belles et bonnes en quantite, et des 
petits limons." — Voyages au Levant, torn, ii, p. 440. 

Two prints of the ' house of Joseph and Mary,' as the hut erected over 
the sacred fountain was then called, as it existed in 1681, may be found in 
the Voyages de Lebrun, vol. i, plates 76, 77. 

The well is now open to the sun, and the balm survives only in tradition - 



Between Mataria and Cairo, a garden and pleasure-house of the Mama- 
luke Sultans existed inBelon's time, 1548 — of which he gives the following 
description : — 

" Quand nous Feusmes veu, tournasmes bride vers le Caire, nous des- 
tournants de nostre chemin, en declinant a main dextre, pour aller voir un 
autre jardin, qui n'est qu' a une Heu du Caire, ou il y a une grande et spa- 
cieuse salle, qui fut faite par les Cercasses au temps que le Souldan etoit 
Seigneur d'Egypte. Cestuy edifice est une grand espace pavee de grandes 
pierres quarrees, et est couverte dessus en maniere de terrasse pour defendre 



violence by the favour of a spider's web that covered them suddenly, and appeared 
very old, though it was made in an instant by a miracle ; so that they imagined not 
that any person could be hid within, much less the persons whom they were seeking." 
— Vansleb, Present State of Egypt, p. 141. 

No mention of this tree, or of its miraculous history, is to be found in the Gospel of 
the Infancy of Christ. 

A large sycamore is still reverenced at Mataria as the Virgin's Tree. But the 
stump of another, which bore the same title, was shown in the garden, and the 
fragments of its trunk were preserved as relics by the Franciscans at Cairo, in 1672. 
— Vansleb. 

Tucher mentions another miraculous tree as shown to him at Mataria in 1479: — 
" In the garden there stands a great fig-tree, which bears the figs named Pharaoh's. 
The tree had exhausted itself at the time when our Lady and her son Jesus came into 
Egypt," but recovered its fertility in consequence ; " a burning lamp, with oil, hangs 
before it." 

A third sacred tree was to be seen at Cairo in the days of Jacques de Vitry, Bishop 
of Acre, who died in 1244. "At Cairo is a very ancient date-tree, which spontane- 
ously bent itself to the blessed Virgin when she wished to eat of its fruit, and rose 
again when she had gathered it. The Saracens, seeing this, cut the tree down, but 
the following night it sprang up again as straig-ht and entire as before, and conse- 
quently they now venerate and adore it. The marks of the axe," adds the Bishop, u are 
visible to this day." — Jacobi de Vitriaco Hist. Orientalise Liber 3, ap. Martenne, Thes. 
v. 3, p. 375. 

The Virgin is said, in the Koran, to have borne our Saviour leaning against a 
withered date-tree, which miraculously let fail ripe fruit for her refreshment. — Sale's 
Koran, c. 19, p. 250. 

The latter tree was said in the tenth century to be preserved in the " dome or 
vault " of Bethlehem, and held in high repute.— Ebn HaukuVs Oriental Geography, 
p. 40. 



390 



NOTES. 



du soleil, dorit la eouverture est soustenue a pilliers de pierre de taiile a 
claires voyes. Le Nil y arrive tout joignarit les murailles, non pas le cou- 
rant, mais quand il inonde. Au coste de levant de ceste salle, il y a un 
beau petit jardin, dedans lequel sont plusieurs arbres de easse, des arbres 
de henne, des rosiers, et josuin jaune : mais aux costez de septentrion et 
de midy, il y a deux petits reservouers en nianiere de viviers, qui servent a 
garder l'eau pour boire. Tout le bastinient est peinct par le dessus. Les 
poutres et aix sont de palrtriers. Depuis que l'Egypte est rendue tributaire 
au Turc, il a toujours continue tomber en decadence."— Observations, &e., 
p. 109. 

Prince Radziwil, in 1583, describes another royal palace, the Gaurea — in 
which he dined, returning from Mataria. It was erected, he says, by Sultan 
Gaur, (or El Goree, the last of the Mamaluke Sultans,) who attached to it 
an elegant mosque with two lofty minarets, in which he was buried. The 
porticoes of this palace, supported by numerous and beautiful columns, 
may vie, he says, with any for elegance. In the centre is a tank, fifty 
cubits square and six deep, which the Sultan, whenever, as was his frequent 
custom, he held a solemn banquet for his court and people, filled with 
sherbet, that whoever would might drink as much as he liked. Four flights 
of marble steps descended from the brink of the pool, for the convenience 
of the people, who descended, step by step, as the sherbet diminished. Re- 
freshments, meanwhile, were laid out for them under the porticoes, while 
the Sultan looked on from the upper story of the building. Ibrahim Pacha, 
adds Radziwil, occasionally resided in this palace — possibly the same 
described by Belon, repaired and enlarged. — Jerosolymitana Peregrinatio, 
&c. — Can it be one of the tombs of the Mamlook Sultans, outside the 
gates of Cairo? 



The Gipsies wandered over Lower Egypt in great numbers about the 
middle of the sixteenth century : — 

" II n'y a lieu en tout le monde qui soit exempt de telle pauvre gent 
ramassee que nous nommons de faux noms Egyptiens ou Baumiens — car 
mesme estauts entre la Materee et le Caire, nous en trouvions de grandes 
compagnies, et aussi le long du Nil en plusieurs villages d'Egypte, campez 
dessous des palmiers, qui estoyent aussi bien estrangers en ce pays la 
comme ils sont aux nostres." — -Belon, Observations, &c, livre ii, c. 41. 

"Nous voyons en allant," (a Mataree) "plusieurs pauvres gens campez 
par les camps comme les Arabes, et nous estans enquis quels ils estoyent, 
on nous dit que c'estoyent de ceux que nous appellons en noz quariiers 
Sarrasins ouBoemiens, que les Italiens nomment Zingani." — 1 581 . — Pere- 
grinations du Sieur Jean Palerne ; ed. 1606, p. 138. 

Note 22, Page 57. — Abhir. 

With the utmost deference to the learned Klaproth, might not the illus- 
trious race of the Avars have derived their name (written indifferently 



NOTES. 



391 



Abares, Auairas, Awares, and Aviri,) from this Sanscrit word '? The Gaelic 
aodhair, contracted aoir, a shepherd, (from aodh, a sheep,) appears to be the 
same word. 

I cannot help remarking how singularly the hereditary tide Topa, or 
Master of the Earth, borne by the Khans of the Geougen, afterwards called 
Avars, — and that of Tobbaa, assumed by the Hamyarite dynasty of Yemen, 
resemble each other. The arms of the Tobbaas were carried as far as 
China, and an inscription in the Musnad, or ancient Hamyarite character, 
was long shown on one of the gates of Samarcand, attesting their presence 
and their victories, " a thousand parasangs from Senaa," at least 500 years 
b. c. SeeEbn Haukul's Oriental Geography, translated by Sir W. Ouseley, 
4to, 1800. 

Note 23, Page 57. 

I am aware that the Philistines and Cherethim are identified in Scrip- 
ture, and that Calmet and many learned commentators consequently 
bring the Philistines from Crete. Major Wilford's and Mr. Taylor's 
opinion appears to me nearer the truth — that Crete was colonized by the 
Cherethim, a tribe of the Philistines or shepherd race, who preserved their 
distinct appellation, though an integral part of the nation, in the same 
manner as one of the principal branches of the Pali in India (to all appear- 
ance the same as the Cherethim) is distinguished to this day by the kindred 
name of Ciratas. — Crete, it is remarkable enough, is said by Anaximan- 
der (ap. Plin.) to have been named from the Curetes under their king 
Philistides. 

With all deference, however, to those learned men, I cannot subscribe to 
their opinion that the Philistines came all the way from India. Gausanitis, 
or Goshan, in Mesopotamia, and Palestine to the east of the Tigris, seem 
to be the two ventricles, as it were, of that mighty heart, from which the 
streams of Pali and Ciratas flowed towards the east, and those of Philistim 
and Cherethim towards the west. 

The argument in the text refers to the great migration from Caphtor to 
Canaan ; some Philistines had certainly settled on the borders of Canaan at 
a much earlier period. Abiineiech, king of Gerar, was Mug of the Philis- 
tines in Abraham's time. Gerar, however, no longer existed as a capital, 
nor the Abimelechs as a line of kings, in the time of Joshua. 

Note 24, Page 68. 

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, ambassador of Ferdinand and Isabella to the 
Mamlook Sultan of Egypt, draws a sad picture of the moral degradation and 
political oppression of the Egyptians, at the commencement of the sixteenth 
century :— 

" Gens autem ipsa incolarum est imbellis, efTceminata, inermis, discincta, 
mollis, timida : mechanicis tantum artibus aut mercaturae interna: vitam 
silentio prseterit ingloriam. Nee aliis legibus a Mameluchis gabernata, 



392 



NOTES, 



quani absoluto judicio. Est praeterea MamelucM cujusvis tanta in iiicolas 
universos potestas, ut clava. lignea, quam manu gestat semper, quemcunque 
incolarti obvium ferire pro libito, vel levissima occasione sumpta, liceat : 
quod scilicet ipsuni transeuntem tetigerit, aut venienti non assurrexerit, vel 
minus lionorifice salutaverit, aut non citus loco cesserit. Interdum etiam 
null am nactus causam, dum aut temulentus aut insanus vel alias iratus 
incedens per urbem Mamelucbus occurrit incolge, ipsum quotquot ictibus 
libet percutit, nec mussitai e miser audet, neque in ejus auxilium vel labium 
movere quisquam intentat: quamvis pater filium, aut filius patrem a Mame- 

lucho caedi conspiciat, aequo tamen vultu patiatur, necesse est 

Incolae cuiquam arma ulla, vel gladiolnm quidem acuta cuspide vel recta, 
apud se habere, equo vel pedibus ambulanti, vetitum est. Eedituum autem, 
praeter ordinaria vectigalia, lex est — principum voluntas. Exigunt, expilant, 
extorquent, et ad ossa usque excoriant. Propterea etsi animus ad vindi- 
candum se in libertatem a tarn irapia servitute adesset, vires tamen defi- 
cerent : cum pecuniae, quae sunt nervi belli, illis desint ; exercitique minime 

sint armis Voluptatibus omnifariam dediti, futurorum omni cura 

posthabiia, vivunt : suoque Mahometan se magis gratum facere tunc arbi- 
trantur, quando ardentius delectationibus incumbunt. 

" Judicate igitur, serenissimi reges, quam infausto sydere regiones has 
gubernentur, in quibus servi dominantur, liberi serviunt, graves opprimun- 
tur, stulti extolluntur: ubi nulla fides, nullum jus, nulla pietas, misericordia 
rara, avaritia immensa : in domibus summa ob multas uxores discordia, foris 
iugens inter se odium." — Legatio Babylonica, lib. 3, fol. 84.* 

Nor was the Egyptian policy of the Grand Signors less oppressive than 
that of the Caliphs and Sultans :— 

" Now the Turk, to break the spirits of this people the more, oppresses 
them with a heavier poverty than any of his other Mahometan subjects ; 
and, therefore, if there be one Vizier more ravenous than another, he sends 
him thither, and connives at all his extortions, though afterwards, accord- 
ing to the Turkish policy, he knows how to squeeze him into the treasury, 
so satisfying the people ; the prince drains them, and they discern him no 
otherwise than as their revenger." — Blount's Voyage into the Levant; 
Harl. Voyages, vol. i, p. 529. 

The following passage from Vansleb I need only preface by reminding 
the reader that the Copts are the sole remnant of the ancient Egyptians : — 

" I must needs confess that there is no nation in Egypt so much afHicted 
as are the Copties, because they have nobody amongst them who deserves 
to be honoured for his knowledge, or feared for his power and authority ; 
for all that were rich or wealthy are destroyed by the cruelty of the Maho- 
metans ; therefore the rest are now looked upon as the scum of the world, 

* The writings of Peter Martyr " abound in interesting particulars not to be found 
in any contemporary historian. They are rich in thought, but still richer in fact, 
arid are full of urbanity, and of the liberal feeling of a scholar who has mingled in the 
world. He is a fountain from which others draw, and from which, with a little pre* 
caution, they may draw securely." — Washington Irving, Life of Columbus. 



NOTES. 



393 



and worse than the Jews. The Turks abuse them at their pleasure; they 
shut up their churches and the doors of their houses, when they please, 
upon light occasions, altogether unjust, to draw from them some sums of 
money." — Present State of Egypt, 1672, p. 174. 

What a commentary these passages are upon the prophecy of Ezekiel : — 
l< It shall be the basest of kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more 
among the nations, for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule 
over the nations. Her power shall come down — I will sell the land into 
the hand of the wicked — I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, 
by the hand of strangers. I the Lord have spoken it." 

Note 25, Page 68.— Manfalout. 

Manfalout has been almost swept away by the Nile. Besides "certain 
huge and high pillars and porches, whereon are verses engraven in the 
Egyptian tongue," Leo Africanus mentions "the ruins of a stately building, 
which seemeth to have been a temple in times past," as standing " neare 
nuto Nilus." — It has long since suffered the fate of those at Antaeopolis, 
and elsewhere — and Ombos will follow. 

Among the ruins, he adds, the citizens "find sometimes coin of silver, 
sometimes of gold, and sometimes of lead, having on the one side hielygra- 
phic notes, and, on the other side, pictures of ancient kings." — Geographi- 
cal History of Africa, p. 325, edit. 1600. 

Note 26, Page 70. — Siout. 

Leo Africanus, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, describes Siout 
as " most admirable in regard of the hugeness and of the variety of old 
buildings, and of epitaphs engraven in Egyptian letters ; although at this 
present the greatest part thereof lyeth desolate. When the Mahometans 
were first lords of this city, it was inhabited by honourable personages, and 
contimieth as yet famous in regard of the nobility and great wealth of the 
citizens." — Geographical History, &c, p. 325. 

Siout was the birth place of many celebrated Arab literati, especially of 
Gelaleddin Aboul Fadhl Abdal-rahman Mohammed, surnamed Assiouti, — a 
most voluminous writer, who flourished under Saladin, and to whom we owe 
the story of the fair Bedouin and the Garden of Boda. 

Note 27, Page 70. 

Mallem Athanasius, the last of the Copts that spoke his native tongue, 
was living at Siout in 1673, when Vansleb ascended the Nile. " I could 
not benefit myself much by him, because he was deaf, and about fourscore 
years of age; nevertheless, I had the satisfaction to behold that man, with 
whom the Copties' language will be utterly lost." — Present State, &c, 
p. 219. 

Note 28, Page 73. 
For these traditions, and respecting the balsam-gTOve, vide supra, p. 3b5. 



394 



NOTES. 



Note 29, Page 73. 

Between Siout and Girgeli we visited Akhmim and Gebel Sheikh Heridy. 

The legend of the serpent into which Sheikh Heridy's soul is said to 
have migrated, is well known, and perhaps of Indian origin ; at least the 
Hindoos appear to have been acquainted with it. See Major Wilford " On 
Egypt and the Nile." — Asiatic Researches, vol. iii, p. 344, edit. 4to. 

At Akhmim, the ancient Chemmis or Panopolis, and the retreat and 
abode, according to the Arab writers, of the most powerful magicians, we 
found little of interest. Nonnus, author of the Dionysiaca, that "vast 
repertory of Eacchic fable, the Grecian Ramayuna," as Mr. Keightley calls 
it, was born there ; and it has produced two great men among the Arabs — 
Dhou el Noun, surnamed El Akhmimi, the chief of the Souffee sect, and a 
skilful magician, who died a.d. 859 ; and Znlmin ebn Ibrahim, a skilful 
chemist, not inferior, we are told, to Geber ben Haian in that art, and who 
added the science of mysticism to his other acquirements ; the temple of 
Akhmim was his constant resort and study, " as a museum of antiquities, 
where wondrous images and statues of exquisite labour were to be seen." — 
Casiri, Bibliotlieca Arabico-Hispana, vol. i, p. 441. 

Man, as usual, has whetted the scythe of Time ; " the pillars and prin- 
cipal stones of Akhmin" were employed, according to Leo Africanus, in 
building Menshieh, on the opposite bank of the Nile ; and of the zodiacs, 
sculptures, and other " arcana sapiential," recorded by Edrisi * — the "restes 
admirables de palais, d'obelisques, et de statues colosses," mentioned by 
D'Herbelot — nothing now remains except an arch almost buried in the 
earth, and a few massive stones of the great Temple of Perseus, in ahollow, 
picturesquely surrounded by palm-trees, the representatives of those men- 
tioned by Herodotus. 

Perseus, according to the report of the natives, as recorded by Herodotus, 
{Euterpe, cap. 91,) frequently appeared in the temple and the neighbour- 
hood of Panopolis ; " a beardless and naked youth," such as he is repre- 
sented in the works of Grecian art, is the description Murtadi gives of the 
guardian spirit of the Temple of Akhmini — well known, he adds, among the 
inhabitants of that place. The coincidence is curious — nor is it less inter- 
esting to find the name of the earliest hero of European romantic fiction 
attached to a spot, illustrious among the Arabs as a sort of Egyptian 
Domdaniel. 

Note 30, Page 77. 

A talisman was supposed to be preserved at Bellini, to hinder crocodiles 
from descending lower. — Bakoui. 

* Edrisi decidedly prefers the temple of Akhmim to those at Dendera and Esne. 
" In prsedicta urbe Echmim extat sedificium illud, quod appellator Beraba ; sunt 
autem plures Berabse, inter quas est Beraba Asnse, Beraba Dandarae, et Beraba 
Echmim: at hsec et gedificio firmior et rebus memoria dignis ornatior est ; nam in 
isto domicilio sunt nonnullse stellarum, et artium quarundarum, picturse, scripta 
diversa, variseque scientias. Istud domicilium, quod Beraba dicitur, est in media 
urbe Echmim, ut diximus." — Geogr. Kubiensis, p. 42. 



NOTES. 



395 



Note 31, Page 86. 

Near this tomb is another, containing paintings of animals beautifully 
executed, but almost destroyed, and apparently since Burckhardt's time, who 
mentions them as " the most elaborate and interesting work of the kind " 
that he had seen in Egypt. ( He adds the curious remark, that " among the 
innumerable paintings and sculptures in the tombs and temples of Egypt," 
he " never met with a single instance of the representation of a camel." I 
do not recollect ever seeing one either. 

Note 32, Page 91. 

" Mount Mem made also part of the cosmo graphical system of the Jews ; 
for Isaiah, making use of such notions as were generally received in his 
time, introduces Lucifer, in Sanscrit Swarbhanu, or Light of Heaven, 
boasting that he would exalt his throne above the stars of God, and would 
sit on the mount of the congregation on the sides of the north. Mem has 
also the name of Sabha, because the congregation, or assembly of the gods, 
is held there on its northern side." — Wilford on the Sacred Islands of the 
West, — Asiatic Researches, vol. viii, p. 284. 

Note 33, Page 102.— Thebes. 

Nothing can be more unaccountable than the cloud of utter oblivion that 
hung over Thebes till the middle of the seventeenth century. No Frank 
traveller, certainly, had penetrated beyond Cairo ; but that the Arab writers, 
who are generally apt to exaggerate in their descriptions of architectural 
remains, should take no notice of ruins like those of Thebes, is most extra- 
ordinary.* Abd'allatif gives us no assistance ; he was not in the upper 
country, and his valuable work on Egypt is merely an account of what he 
himself had seen, extracted from a larger compilation, — Edrisi, Ebn al 
Ouardi, and Bakoui, are quite silent, — Abulfeda, who finished his work in 
1321, after bestowing just praise on the antiquities of Oshmunein, Ensina, 
and Memphis, pronounces a grave eulogium on the pottery of Luxor ! Ebn 
Batuta, who ascended the Nile in 1325, mentions El Aksar (Luxor) as one 
of the stages of his journey, but says nothing (at least in the abridgment, 
which is all we possess of his work) of its ruins. How Leo Africanus 
could have omitted all mention of them, is most surprising; he must have 
passed and repassed them by night, for he expressly states that he sailed up 
the river as high as Essouan. But did he hear nothing of Luxor and Car- 
nac ? Were there no tales current of those vast halls, that genii might 
walk under with unbended brow — of those awful statues that, side by side, 
look down on the Nile like the tutelar guardians of Egypt — works worthy 
of the Preadamites ? Were there no tales of mystery, no talismans concealed 

* Yet not more so than that Herodotus should pass them over so completely. 



396 



NOTES 



there for Al Ouardi or Bakoui to record ? One would almost fancy they 
believed that merely naming them would wake Memnon and his brother 
from their charmed slumber, let loose the sphinxes, and bring them down, 
a mighty army, to revenge the wrongs of Egypt on her oppressors' heads. 

Neither Carnac nor Luxor are to be found in D'Herbelot's precious 
"Bibliotheque Orientale," first published in 1697, and he suggests that 
Cous in the upper Thebaid, may possibly be the ancient Thebes.* 

In short, the first notice I have been able to find of them, occurs in the 
brief narrative, dated 1668, of Father Protais, a worthy Capuchin mission- 
ary, who, after describing Luxor and Carnac with the simplicity and accu- 
racy of Burckhardt, does not appear to have been aware that he had trodden 
on the dust of Thebes ! The reader will not be displeased to compare his 
account of the ruius of Carnac with those given by modern travellers; they 
have suffered much, it seems, within the last hundred and seventy years. I 
do not know how it may be with others, but to me the glimpses of the pro- 
gress of ruin one meets with in the old travellers are as affecting as the 
varying shades of age deepening over a beauty's features in a succession of 
portraits taken at different stages of her life ; this will plead my apology, I 

* Nor are Luxor or Carnac mentioned in the singularly curious " Mappamundi" of 
Fra Mauro, preserved in the Library of St. Mark's at Venice, and which I have 
examined, though very cursorily, since the above remarks were published. It is a 
most curious document, six or seven feet high, drawn and written on vellum, and 
contains geographical notices which we have been accustomed to suppose of much 
more recent acquisition. The venerable librarian told me, that when repairing and 
framing it, he found an inscription on the back giving the name of the author and 
the date of its completion, December, 1460. There is no gleam of the Cape of Good 
Hope, but " Dafur " is indicated, and the circular sweep of the Nile, with its source, 
marked by a circle of small fountains, and the lake, inscribed (if I recollect right) 
" Fons Neel," in the country of " Abassia," (Habesh,) — and another fount to the 
west, named " Fonte Geneth," — then, descending northwards, " Nubia," and the 
upper cataracts of the Nile, immediately beyond " Sua," (Essouan,) on the east bank, 
— but no notice whatever of Luxor or Carnac, — then, still descending the river, suc- 
cessively, "Miniam" (?) on the eastern, "Mocassor" on the eastern, "El Medina" 
on the western, "Nebend" on the western, "Elmine" (Minieh?) on the western, 
and " Benebeida" on the eastern bank, — "Babilonia," — " Masser, ovver El Chaiero," 
— the Granaries of Pharaoh, i. e., the pyramids, — the " Tebaida," east of Cairo, and 
many of the towns in the Delta, — " Elfoa," " Damiata," " Seramia," "El Minie," and 
" Semenun." Crossing the Red Sea, we have the " Pozo de Moisis," "Eltoreya," 
" Synay," and beyond it the city " Olch," in Arabia Petrsea, and then " Hacse" and 
" Aaran." 

Fra Mauro says in a note on Palestine, that he has " amplissimi desegni de tute 
queste parte," {i.e., Syria, Armenia, Arabia, &c.,) "che li sono mejo distincte et 
ordinati." 

Nor are the British Islands overlooked :— In England only the towns on the south- 
ern coast, from west to east, are marked, to wit, " Falamita," (Falmouth,) " Alca- 
mum," (Charmouth?) " Bristo," (Bristol?) " Ancona," (Hants? or the Jsle of 
Wight?) " Gixalexio," (Chichester?) :— 

In Ireland, we have — in the south, " Comborg," — on the west coast, " Lanere," — 
and in the north, the " Purgatorio di S. Patricio " : — 

For Scotland, nothing but the following very flattering notice : — " Scotia, chome 
apar, e contiguacum Anglia, ma devisa da aqua e da monti dala parte meridional, e la 
gente eligiara e feroce e crudel contra i nemici, e piutosto eleceriano la morte cha la 
servitu," adding, that it is " fertilissima de' pascoli, fiumere, fontane, et animali, e de 
tote altre cosse e egual ad Anglia." 

This map ought to be engraved in fac-simile and carefully illustrated. An atlas of 
ancient maps, one or two for each century, so edited, would be invaluable. The 
librarian of St. Mark's shewed me some others, very curious, in one of which, dated 
between 1430 and 1440, the Antilles were marked, and " Ys. Brasil," (Ysola Brasileae,) 
apparently in the same handwriting. [1847.] 



NOTES. 



397 



hope, for the present and similar notices of the changes wrought by the foot 
of Time, falling heavier and heavier every year he makes his rounds over 
the monuments of antiquity. 

After a brief but accurate description of Luxor, Father Protais proceeds 
as follows : — 

" Le deuxieme village est el Hamdie, ou Loxor el Cadim, ou Carnac. 
La tradition des gens du pays dit que c'estoit autrefois la demeure d'un 
Eoy ; il y a bien de Tapparance, car on y voit de grands et beaux restes d'un 
chasteau, aux avenues duquel il y a des sphinx de part et d'autre, la teste 
tournee vers 1'allee dans la posture a peu pres qu'on donne aux lions du 
trone de Salomon. lis out vingt-uue semelles de longeur, distans de deux 
les uns des autres. J 'en ay veu quatre allees toutes garnies, avant que 
d'arriver au Palais ; je ne seay pas s'il y en a d'autres, parce que je ne vis 
que la moitie du contour : j'en comptay soixante de chaque coste dans la 
premiere allee, et cinquante-un dans la seconde, le tout fort bien ordonne. 
Les portes sont grandes et exhaussees au dela de toute mesure et de la 
croyance, couvertes des plus belles pierres qu'il est possible de voir ; j'en 
mesuray une de trente-cinq semelles. Je ne pus rien connoistre dans la 
cimetrie des bastimens, taut ils sont en desordre et ruinez, outre que le peu 
de temps que nous avions a y demeurer ne nous permit pas d'observer 
toutes ces choses; pour les bien examiner piece a piece, il faudroit du 
moins un mois, et je n'y fus pas plus de trois heures et demie. Je croy 
qu'il y a plus de mille figures demy relief, et quelques-unes tout relief. II 
y a un tres-grand nombre de colonnes ; j'en comptay environ 120 dans une 
seule salle, qui estoient de cinq grandes brasses de grosseur. Je remar- 
quay sept aiguilles, deux desquelles sont assez regulieres, excepte que l'une 
a demy pied de face plus que les deux de Loxor, et que l'autre est beaucoup 
plus petite. II y en a trois par terre, brisees, qui a moitie, qui tout a fait, 
et deux autres de jaspe rompues par le haut, sur lesquelles il y a de grands 
personnages gravez avec quantite d'ornemens fort particuliers. II y a un 
grand bassin d'eau dans la cour du chasteau avec un tour de belles pierres : 
on me dit que cette eau seule blanchissoit fort bien le linge ; pour l'eprouver, 
j'y trempay un mouchoir, qui conserva l'odeur du savon durant quatre ou 
cinq jours. A l'un des portaux du palais il y a deux grandes statues d'une 
pierre blanche comme albastre, mais le visage en est tout ruine : elles out 
l'epee a la ceinture.* Une autre paroist encore vers le milieu du chasteau, 
de mesme taille, c'est a dire, de la hauteur de trois hommes bien propor- 
tionnez." 

He supplies some further particulars in a letter dated Cairo, January 6th 
1670 : — " Je croy qu'il y a plus d'un million de statues et de figures de bas- 
relief. Dans les bas reliefs des murailles et des piliers toutes les figures 
sont de bas relief, et il n'y en a aucune qui soit veue de front: il m'eust 
faliu un mois tout entier dans un semblable lieu pour en observer toutes les 

* These are the statues, now decapitated, which Mr. Ramsay was so much pleased 
with. 



398 



NOTES. 



particularitez : je me contentai de tirer seulement les postures d'une dou- 
zaine de diables les plus extravagans avec leurs troupes d'hommes et de 
femmes qui les adorent, et quelques frontispieces de temples, lesquels ne sont 
pas fort riches en architecture, mais ils sont bastis de tres belles pierres ; ce 
qui me plaisoit le plus, c'estoit le plat-fond et l'azur, et les autres couleurs 
qui sont liees comme de l'email, paroissant aussi fraiches que si elles avoient 
ete appliquees depuis un mois." 

" Ce queje viens de dire n'est que bagatelle an regard de ce qui setrouve 
vis-a-vis, a une lieue de la, du coste du Ponant, selon le rapport de plus de 
cinquante personnes, de qui je me suis informe ; c'est un lieu qui s'appelle 
l'ancienne ville de Habou, [Medinet Habou,] pleine d' antiques et de curio- 
sitez incomparablement plus belles que celles de Hamdie ; outre qu'il y a 
quantite de momies que les Arabes brulent tous les jours, aussi bien que 
leurs divinitez de bois. Le lieu ou sont les momies se nomme Biout (beit) 
el Melouc : on decouvre de loin avec des lunettes d'approche deux epouvan- 
tables Idoles, masle et femelle, assises dans des chaises, tournees au Levant, 
lesquelles doivent avoir la teste a peu pres comme celle des Pyramides du 
Caire appelle Aboul et Saoul.* Elles sont bien proportionnez ; on discerne 
aisement l'homme d'avec la femme ; leurs noms sont Tama et Cama.t 

" Tout proche de la est un lieu nomme Legourne, [Gournou,] ou el 
Abouab, ou les temples et les statues se sont conservees si fraisches, et les 
couleurs si vives, qu'il semble (disent les habitans) que le maistre n'a pas 
encore lave ses mains depuis son travail, — ce sont leurs propres termes. On 
en decouvre quelque chose du bord du Nil. Les chrestiens de Loxor, 
voyant que j'avois grande envie d'aller sur les lieux pour en considerer les 
heautez, s'onrirent de me mener a Habou, mais pour plusieurs raisons je ne 
le jugeay pas a-propos, dont je me suis repenti ; mon dessein est d'y re- 
tourner non seulement par curiosite, mais a cause des Chrestiens qui sont 

comme de pauvres brebis sans pasteur il y en a qui ont passe 

cinquante annees sans confession et sans communion, n'ayant ni eglise ni 
prestre." 

He closes his letter from Cairo — " J'espere y retourner bientost, et n'en 
pas revenir avec tant de precipitation ; mais il me faut faire un petit voyage 
sur la Mer Rouge, ou je vais tous les ans pour visiter les pauvres esclaves 
dans les galeres du Turc, et leur administrer les sacremens." — Relation du 
Voyage du Said, ou de la Thebayde,fait en 1668, par les P. P. Protais et 
C. F. a" Orleans, Capucins Missionaires. In Thevenots Collection of 
Voyages, &c, torn, ii, part 2. J 

* He means the sphinx, called by the Arabs Abou-el-hol, the Father of Terrors, 
or Abou-el-haoun, the Father of the Column, 
t They are still called so — Shama and Tama. 

% Father Protais evidently mistook Memphis for Thebes, as Thevet did in the 
sixteenth, Breydenbach in the fifteenth, and Burcardus de Monte Sion in the thir- 
teenth century. — " From Babylon," (old Cairo,) says the latter, " Thebes is two 
leagues distant, and the desert of Thebais, once densely peopled with monks, lies 
adjacent to it."— Descriptio, §r., apud Canisii Lectiones Antiquas, torn, iv, p. 26. 
[This desert, misnamed " of Thebais," is that of Nitria, or of the Natroun lakes, the 
scene of the ghostly conflicts and penances of the " fathers of the " Egyptian " desert," 



NOTES. 



399 



The good father never revisited Thebes, falling a victim to the plague the 
year following, 1671. (Vansleb.)* His companion, Father Carlo Francisco 
d'Orleans, was afterwards superior of the Capucins at Cairo. — Letter of Dr. 
Huntingdon — Ray's Collection, &c, vol. ii, p. 4(53. 

Pere Sicard's exaggerated account of more than one thousand columns to 
be seen at Carnac, and of many hundreds at Luxor — to say nothing of his 
mistake of the statues in front of the propyla there for sphinxes — contrast 
unfavourably with the simple and accurate statement of his humble prede- 
cessor, who had but three hours and a half to examine them in ! Among 
the precise facts, however, mentioned by Sicard, is the existence of six 
obelisks — two of which, small ones, but the most interesting, were of por- 
phyry — at the time of his visit to Thebes about 1714. — See his interesting 
plan of a work on Egypt — Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, torn, v, p. 255. + 

These small obelisks, evidently the same as those mentioned by Protais, 
are described by Norden as follows : — " On voit au devant d'un petit temple 
deux autres obelisques, mais beaucoup plus petits que les precedents. lis 
peuvent avoir a peu pres onze a douze pieds de hauteur, et leurs faces n'ont 
qu'un pied et demi de largeur. Quant a la matiere, elle est de granit, et d'un 
grain si fin qu'elle approche beaucoup du porphyre. lis ont servi, selon 
toutes les apparences, de piedestaux a deux idoles, et ils sont ornes d'hiero- 
glyphes peints de divers couleurs ; et ces hieroglyphes representent, pour 
la plus grande partie, des figures qui s'embrassent." — Norden, Voyages, &c, 
vol. i, p. 171, edit. Langles. 

They probably stood behind the sanctuary, where two pedestals of red 
granite are still to be seen. When they were destroyed I know not, but it 
must have been before Pococke's visit in 1737. He only found four obe- 
lisks, all of red granite — three standing, and one, the last towards the S.E., 
fallen. Perry, a year or two afterwards, found only two erect, and in his 
time two pillars of the great colonnade of the first court were standing — the 
other six lying on the ground, "like a pile of mill-stones thrown down"— 
there could not be a juster simile. 

I need not dwell longer on the tale of ruin. 

Sicard appears to have been the first traveller who recognised Thebes in 
the ruins of Carnac and Luxor. Lucas supposed it to have been situated 

as narrated in the " Vitae Patrcim " of Rosweyde. I have translated many of them 
among the records of Christian mythology, introductory to my recent work, entitled, 
" Sketches of the History of Christian Art." Many monasteries still subsist there. 
1847.] 

* This plague swept away, as Vansleb informs us, six hundred and fourscore 
thousand persons. 

t In his list of " restes de l'ancienne Egypte paienne," he reckons " dix-huit obelis- 
ques, deux a Alexandrie, dix a Thebes, quatre a Phile, une a Arsinoe, et une a 
Heliopolis." — Lettres Edif., torn, v, p. 495. 

Father Sicard fell a victim to his humanity in attending the sick and dying while 
the plague raged at Cairo in 1726. See a sketch of his life and character, — Letires 
Edif., &c, p. 354. 



400 



NOTES. 



much more to the south* — near a little Turkish fortress called Naassa, 
where he describes the ruins of what appeared to him, he says, the greatest 
city that ever existed in the world — ruins which have remained as invisible 
as the gardens of Irem to all subsequent travellers. 

" Je demeurai comme interdit a l'aspect d'un ouvrage le plus grand et 
le plus magnifique. C'est un palais grand comme une petite ville ; quatre 
avenues de colonnes conduisent a quatre portiques. On voyoit a chaque 
porte, entre deux grandes colonnes de porpbyre, deux figures, d'un beau 
marbre noir, de geans qui ont chacun une masse a la main. L'avenue de 
colonnes qui conduit a chaque porte, est de trois colonnes en triangle de 
chaque cote composee de plus de 1500 colonnes. Sur le chapiteau de 
chaque triangle il y a un sphynx, et sur l'ordre des trois colonnes qui suivent, 
un tombeau, et ainsi successivement de chaque cote dans toutes les quatres 
allees. On en voit beaucoup de tombees. Chaque colonne a soixante et 
dix pieds de haut, toutes d'une seule pierre, de maniere que dans les quatre 
avenues il faut qu'il y ait plus de cinq a six mille colonnes. 

" Je trouvai la premiere salle de ce palais toute peinte de tres-beaux sujets 
d'histoires, et il ne paroissoit pas qu'il y eut long-temps que cette peinture 
fut achevee. On y voyoit des chasses de gazelles ; en d'autres endroits des 
festins; et quantite de petits enfans qui jouoient avec toutes sortes d'ani- 
maux. Je passai de la a d'autres appartemens tout revetus de marbre, dont 
les voutes etoient soutenues par des colonnes de porphyre et de marbre noir. 
Quoique les decombremens ne permettent pas d'aller partout, nous trou- 
vames le moyen cependant d'aller en haut, d'oii j'eus le plaisir et en meme 
terns le chagrin de promener ma vue sur les mines de la plus grande ville 
qui ait ete, ce me semble, au monde. Je me figurais dans ce terns -la que ce 
pouvoit etre Diospolis, l'ancienne Thebes a cent portes, et ceuxdemes amis 
qui ont fait un cours d'antiquitez, semblent enconvenir. lis troiivent meme 
dans ce que je rapporte une exactitude et une precision que n'est pas venue 
dans les auteurs jusqu'a nous. Je me flatte ainsi que cela donnera quelque 
merite a ma relation, et qu'on me scaura gre de ma diligence. 

" On decouvroit, du cote du desert qui est au Levant, environ douze 
Pyramides, qui ne cedent rien a celles du Grand Caire. Outre quantite de 
busies, de plus de trente pieds de haut, de figures d'hommes, j'y remarquai 
un fort grand nombre de palais qui paroissent encore tous entiers, mais si 
ens.evelis dans les mines, que Ton n'en voit plus les portes, et meme j'entrai 
dans quelques uns par les fenetres. Je partis de ce lieu le cceur tout con- 
trit de voir que tant de beaux edifices fussent deserts et abandonnez a l'in- 
jure du terns ; que la demeure de tant de rois soit devenue la retraite des 
serpens et des autres ammaux semblables ! En revenant a Naasse nous 
passames par un endroit qui est sur le penchant de la montagne, tout plein 
de puits quarrez, qui servoient a enterrer les gens du pays ; tous ces lieux 
sont tout a fait deserts." 

* Lucas had visited Luxor and Carnac some years before Sicard ; he speaks of 
*' plusieurs obelisques," but his account is strangely confused and inaccurate. 



NOTES. 



401 



This extraordinary tissue of lies circumstantial is illustrated by a bird's 
eye view of the chateau, and by prints of a pyramid, fourteen hundred feet 
high, and of a female bust, seventy two, without the pedestal 1 ! ! 

Note 34, Page 108. 

Edrisi, in the twelfth century, describes Essouan as a small but densely 
peopled town, abundant in all sorts of vegetables, and noted for its excellent 
breed of camels, goats, &c. — all very fat and well favoured. — Geogr. Nu- 
biensis, p. 18. 

Ebn al Ouardi, in the following century, speaks of it as " tres peuplee, 
mais on ne peut y parvenir que par la montagne Alaki ou Allaki, situee dans 
un lieu bas et couvert de sables, sous lesquels, en creusant, on trouve l'eau. 
11 y a dans cette montagne des mines d'or et d' argent; et aumidi du Nil est 
une autre montagne dans un desert, ou estune mine d'emeraudes, la seule 
de cette espece qu'on trouve dans le monde." — Notices des MS8., &c, vol. 
ii, p 31. In this singular account the Gebel Ollaki, or Golden Mountain, 
of the present day — the Hemacuta, I conceive, of the Hindoos — east of 
Dakke — is misplaced to the north of Essouan. The emerald mine is in the 
desert, east of Edfou. 

Syene still deserved the name of " the great, ancient, and populous city 
of Assuan," in Leo's time. " The citizens are exceedingly addicted unto 
the trade of merchandise, because they dwell so near unto the kingdom of 
Nubia, upon the confines whereof standeth their city ; beyond which city, 
Nilus, dispersing himself over the plains through many small lakes, be- 
cometh innavigable. Also the said city standeth near unto that desert over 
which they travel unto the port of Suachen upon the Bed Sea, and it ad- 

joineth likewise upon the frontiers of Ethiopia Here are to be seen 

also many buildings of the ancient Egyptians, and most high towers, which 
they call in the language of that country Birba. Beyond this place there 
is neither city nor habitation of any account, besides a few villages of black 
people, whose speech is compounded of the Arabian, Egyptian, and Ethio- 
pian languages. These being subject unto the people called Bugiha, 
(Beeja,) live in the fields after the Arabian manner, being free from the 
Soldan's jurisdiction, for there his dominions are limited." — Description of 
Africa. 

Note 35, Page 119. 

" And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the 
earth until the ninth hour, And the sun was darkened." — " This obscura- 
tion of the sun was observed at Heliopolis, in Egypt, by Dionysius the 
Areopagite, afterwards the illustrious convert of St. Paul at Athens ; who, 
in a letter to the martyr Polycarp, describes his own and his compauion the 
sophist Apollophanes' astonishment at the phenomenon. Apollophanes ex- 
claimed, as if divining the cause, ' These, 0 Dionysius, are the vicissitudes 
of divine events.' Dionysius answered, 'Either the Deity suffers, or he 
sympathizes with the sufferer.' And that sufferer, according to tradition, 

D D 



402 



NOTES. 



recorded by Michael Syncellus of Jerusalem, he declared to be the un- 
known God, for whose sufferings all nature was darkened and convulsed."— 

Hales 1 Analysis of Ancient Chronology. 

Note 36, Page 121. 

While Elephantine was the boundary city, Philse seems to have been the 
extreme outpost of the Eoman empire, to the south.* Diocletian, after 
settling the Nubians, originally inhabitants of the great Oasis, along the 
banks of the Nile, built a strong fortress on the island, and, in the view of 
cementing a friendly alliance with them and the Blemmyes, who inhabited 
the interior country, erected " temples and altars," common to the Romans 
and barbarians, under the care of priests chosen from both nations. Narses, 
the Pers-Armenian refugee,^ while stationed there as lieutenant of Justi- 
nian, received the imperial mandate to destroy the temple ; he did so, says 
Procopius, and, throwing the priests into prison, sent the images of the 
gods to Byzantium. — Procopius de Bello Persico, lib. i, cap. 19. 

Note 37, Page 121. 

" Agatharcides, et Diodore apres lui, ont parle des mines d'or abondantes 
que renfermoient des montagnes situees dans ces cantons et sur les bords 
de la mer. Agatharcides rapporte meme un fait interessant a saisir, et qui 
prouve que ces mines etoient exploitees des la phis haute antiquite. ' On 
y trouve encore aujourd'hui,' dit cet auteur, ( une immense quantite d'osse- 
mens humains, des outils, et des marteaux de bronze, dont on se servait 
autrefois, parce que dans les anciens temps le fer etoit tres rare.' Ces 
mines n'ont point cesse d'etre connues des Arabes. L'Edrisi et Abulfeda 
en parlent : le premier dit qu'elles produisoient de Tor et de l'argent. On 
les fouilloit encore de leur temps, mais elles commenfoient a etre moins 
abondantes, et il est probable qu'elles ont ete negligees depuis. lis nom- 
ment les montagnes ou elles se trouvent, Ollaki ou Alalaki, et les placent 
a quinze jonrnees d'Asuan,et ahuit journeesd'Aidab." — Gosselin, Recherckes 
sur la Geographie des Anciens, torn, ii, p. 144. 

See also Note 34. 

Note 38, Page 127. 

The Franks found the Ethiopian scourge a most formidable weapon at 
the battle of Ascalon: — " D'abord les Ethiopiens, ou Azoparts, qui, selon 
leur usage, combattent un genou en terre, s'avangerent sur la premiere 
ligne, et attaquerent vivement les Frangais Ces memes Azoparts, 

* Procopius makes a marked distinction between Elephantine and Philse : — 
" vr\<rov riva ev 7roTa/ioj NetAoj afX l<TTa w»J T *1? EAe^avTtvrj? 7roAeaj9 evp&v 6 /3acri\ev? 
outo9, (ppuupLOv re ravrr] Sei^iajuevof ^x v ? (aTa " rov • • • KULL ^'Aaf CTrcoi/ofxacre 

to xwpcov." 

t Not the illustrious conqueror of Italy, but " the brother of feaac and Armatius, 
who, after a successful action against Belisarius, deserted from his Persian sovereign 
and afterwai'ds served in the Italian war." — Vide Gibbon, c. xlvi, n. 17. 



NOTES. 



403 



hommes horribles et tres noirs, portaient en outre des fleaux en fer, instru- 
ment terrible avec lequel ils battaient violemment les cuirasses et les 
casques, frappaient les chevaux a la tete, et dont les coups redoutables 

retentissaient d'une maniere epouvantable dans les rangs des fideles." 

Albert d'Aix, Hist, des Croisades, livrevi, p. 366, ed. Guizot ; or p. 287 of 
the Gesta Dei per Francos. 

Note 39, Page 146. 

Is not the word Re, " the San" — which, with the demonstrative article 
prefixed, became Ph're or Pharaoh, the hereditary title of the kings of 
Egypt — recognisable in most of the primitive dialects of mankind as im- 
plying a king or prince 1 We find righ, or ri, in the Celtic — reich, or 
recks, in the Teutonic languages ; rec in Hebrew, reis in Arabic and Turk- 
ish, rajah in the East Indies, eree and rhio in Otaheite and the Sandwich 
Islands. — See Armstrong's Gaelic Dictionary, sub voce righ. 

Note 40, Page 149. 

" Armand," or Herment, is described by Father Protais as almost en- 
tirely abandoned, " les gens du pays ne m'en purent dire la raison ; ils 
l appellent Balab (bellad) Mouse ; il y a encore un temple d'idoles, ou Ton 
va par un chemin couvert et souterrain." " They call it in Arabic Beled 
Muse, or the country of Moses, because the Egyptians believe that Moses 
was born there." — Vansleb, Present State, &c, p. 243. 



Bakoui speaks of Ghouft, the ancient Coptos, as follows : — 
" On y voit un batiment extraordinaire qui a 360 colonnes, chacune 
d'une seule piece. Sur le sommet de ces colonnes est une figure d'homme, 
ayant sur la tete un espece de bonnet ou mitre (calansara). Le toit de ce 
batiment est de pierres, dont les extremites posent sur des colonnes, et on 
n'y apercoit aucunes jointures." 

The 360 columns are probably according to the usual Arab facon de 
parler, but there must have been some monument of uncommon grandeur 
at Ghouft even to account for such an exaggeration. 

Note 41, Page 150. — Dendera. 

" Les gens du pays disent que ce palais a ete bati par les demons, et que 
Ton voit la nuit plusieurs fantomes se promener dans ses ruines." — 
P. Lucas, Voyage au Levant, torn, i, p. 109. Bakoui notices the birbe of 
Dendera, " et autres batimens, qui sont autant de talismans ;" and De 
Guignes, in a note on the passage, suggests the probability that the dread 
of the natives, lest the talismans should be discovered and injured, may 
contribute as much as the belief in concealed treasures to their aversion to 
the excavating propensities of the Franks. — Notices des 3ISS., &c, torn, ii, 
p. 436. 

D D 2 



404 



NOTES. 



Note 42, Page 153. — Memphis. 

Rapid must have "been the work of decay and destruction since the time 
of Abd'allatif : — " Malgre l'immense etendue de cette ville et la haute anti- 
quite a laquelle elle remonte, nonobstant toutes les vicissitudes des divers 
gouvernements dont elle a successivement subi le joug, quelques efforts que 
differens peuples aient faits pour Taneantir, en en faisant disparoitre jusqu' 
a ses moindres vestiges, efFac ant jusqu' a ses plus legeres traces, transportant 
ailleurs les pierres et les materiaux dont elle etoit construite, devastant ses 
edifices, mutilant les figures qui en faisoient i'ornement ; enfin, en depit de 
ce que quatre mille ans et plus ont du aj outer a tant de causes de destruc- 
tion, ses ruines oftrent encore aux yeux des spectateurs une reunion de 
merveilles qui confond l'intelligence, et que l'hommele plus eloquent entre- 
prendroit inutilement de decrire. Plus on la considere, plus on sent aug- 
menter 1' admiration qu'elle inspire; et chaque nouveau coup-d'ceil que Ton 
donne a ses ruines est une nouvelle cause de ravissement. A peine a-t-elle 
fait naitre une idee dans l'ame du spectateur, qu'elle lui suggere une idee 
encore plus admirable ; et quand on croit en avoir acquis une connoissance 
parfaite, elle vous convainc au menie instant que ce que vous aviez concji 
est encore bien au-dessous de la verite." — Relation, &c, p. 185. 

Besides a beautiful monolithic shrine, called the Green Chapel, (de- 
stroyed in 1449,) he specifies idols that, whether their number or size be 
considered, surpass description : — " Mais ce qui est encore plus digne d' ex- 
citer 1' admiration, c'est 1' exactitude dans leurs formes, la justesse de leurs 
proportions, et leur ressemblance avec la nature. Nous en avons mesure 
une qui, sans son piedestal, avoit plus de trente coudees ; sa largeur, du 
cote droit au cote gauche, portoit environ dix coudees ; et du devant au der- 
riere, elle etoit epaisse en proportion. Cette statue etoit d'une seule pierre 
de granit rouge : elle etoit recouverte d'un vernis rouge, auquel son anti- 
quite sembloit ne faire qu'aj outer une nouvelle fraicheur." — Relation, &c, 
pp. 185-7. 

This, probably, was the statue of Sesostris, discovered by Caviglia, or 
one of its brethren that stood before the temple of Vulcan. 

Abulfeda, who flourished a century later, speaks of the antiquities of 
Memphis as considerable, but neglected and perishing ; the green and other 
colours, he says, remain as vivid as ever. 

" On voit encore les ruines de cette ville," is all the notice Bakoui be- 
stows on them at the commencement of the fifteenth century. 

Furer, in 1565, asserts that two giants, or colossi of porphyry, originally 
elevated on lofty bases and sculptured with hieroglyphics, were then lying 
prostrate in Memphis — the name he gives to Old Cairo. " One of them," he 
says, " measures twenty feet from the head to the extremity of the torso, — 
the other wants the head. The Arabs will have it they are the images of the 
son and daughter of Pharaoh. Very many other statues, a camel espe- 
cially, of stupendous size, a lion, a sphinx, besides other animals, are seen 
there — all of red marble, but all broken and destroyed." — Ilinerarium, 
p. 19. I am inclined to think he never saw them, and has misunderstood and 



NOTES. 



405 



misstated information similar to that which Kadziwil obtained in 1583 — 
that two colossi, twenty cubits high, each of one stone, most beautifully- 
sculptured, both fallen, but entire — one of them representing a Pharaoh, 
the other a Queen, perhaps his wife — were lying on the ground five miles to 
the south of the Pyramids ; he did not see them himself, he tells us, but 
received this account from persons at Cairo, who assured him they had. — 
Jerosolymitana Peregrinatio, p. 164. 

Villamont, however, in 1590, speaks of these statues as an eye-witness. 
«' En chemin," he says — for the mummy-pits, nine miles from Cairo, " nous 
veismes sur le sable deux grands Colcsses, que nous laissasmes pour suivre 
nostre chemin jusques a Zaccara." — Voyages, &c, p. 584, 

" A city, great and populous, adorned with a world of antiquities ! But 
why spend I time about that that is not, the very ruins now almost ruinated ? 
Yet some few impressions are left, and divers thrown down statues of mon- 
strous resemblances ; a scarce sufficient testimony to show unto the curious 
seeker that there it hath been. Why then deplore our human frailty ? 

" 4 Mors etiam saxis nominibusque venit.' " 

•* ' When stones as well as breath 
And names do suffer death/ " 

Sandys, p. 132. 



EDOM 



N 

AND 



OTES. 

THE HOLY 



LAND, 



Note 1, Page 159. 
" Camels are the ships of Arabia, their seas are the deserts." — Sandys, 

Note 2, Page 165. 

" As this was the first time that I rid upon a camel, I could hardly 
endure the shakings, which the manner of walking of this fantastic beast 
caused me to suffer. I confess, when I saw myself upon this colossus, 
without any stay, lifted up in the air, seated upon an ugly beast, my feet in 
two ropes instead of stirrups, holding in my hand a cord made with the 
strings of a palm-tree, which cut my hands, it seemed to me very strange ; 
I resolved, nevertheless, to overcome all these difficulties ; and, instead of 
vexing myself, I made a sport of that which would have troubled other per- 
sons." — VansleVs Present State of Egypt, p. 196. 

Note 3, Page 166. 

" The tracks of the chariot-wheels are not only to be seen on the shore, 
but as far into the sea also as one's sight can reach ; and if they should at 
any time be defaced, either by chance or through curiosity, the divine power 
immediately orders the winds and floods to restore them to their former 
condition." — Orosius, quoted by Baumgarten, who confirms the tale, lib, i, 
c. 21. 

Note 4, Page 167. 

The El Tih, Ard El Tia, or Tiah beni Israel, lies, according to the best 
Arab geogiaphers, between Aila and the mountains As Schorah, or Mount 
Seir, to the east, the Sea of Kolsum or Gulph of Suez, to the west, Palestine 
to the north, and the Sinaite promontory, to the south. " Major autem pars 
terrae hujus At Tiah arenis constat, alia loca salebrosa sunt; reperiuntur 
quoque palmae et fontes late dimanantes pauci." — Abulfedce Tabula Syrice, 

This, in Ptolomy's time, was the country of the Saraceni, whose name 
(derived, Mr. Farren thinks, from the word Sarakeen, robbers — the epithet 
bestowed on them by their enemies) was afterwards popularly extended to 
the whole Arab race. Ptolomy distinguishes them from the Pharanitae, who 



NOTES. 



407 



then inhabited the country south of Gebel Tiah ; but Procopius, four cen- 
turies later, extends their power over the whole peninsula, describing them 
as the ancient inhabitants of the Phoenicon, or palm-forest, extending to a 
great distance along the coast, and which their prince Abocharubus, who 
dwelt there, had nominally given to Justinian.* 

The monks of Sinai, in the day of their power, appear to have made good 
their claims as representatives of the Emperor; they are still in possession 
of extensive palm-groves, near Tor, but those of Wady Feiran — all, indeed, 
in the peninsula — are said to have once belonged to them. 

Procopius, I may add, as well as Bakoui and other of the Arabian geo- 
graphers, consider Aila as the eastern boundary of Egypt. 



Sir John Mandeville gives a graphic description of the Bedouins, whc 
inhabit the desert between Sinai and Jerusalem : — 

" Thei ben folke fulle of alle evylle condiciouns. And thei have none 
houses but tentes, that thei maken of skynnes of bestes, as of camaylles and 
of other bestes, that thei eten ; and there-benethe thei couchen hem, and 
dwellen in place where thei may fynden watre, as on the Kede See, or elles- 
where. For in that desert is fulle gret defaute of watre ; and oftentime it 
fallethe that where men fynde watre at o [one] tyme in a place, it faylethe 
another tyme. And for that skylle they make none habitations there. Theise 
folk that I speke of, thei tylen not the lond, ne thei laboure noughte ; or 
thei eten no bred, but zif it be ony that dwellen nyghe a gode toun, that gon 
thidre and eten bred som tyme. And thei rosten here [their] flesche and 
here flsche upon the hot stones, azenst the sonne. And thei ben stronge 
men and wel fyghtynge. And there is so meche multitude of that folk that 
thei ben withouten nombre. And thei ne recchen of nothing, ne don not 
but chacen afire bestes, to eaten hem. And thei recchen nothing of here 
lif ; and therfore thei dowten not the Sowdon, ne non other prince ; but thei 
dar well werre with them, zif thei don ony thing that is grevance to hem. 
And thei han oftentyme werre with the Soudan; and namely that tyme that 
I was with him. And thei beren but o scheld and o spere, withouten other 
armes. And thei wrappen here hedes and here necke with a gret quantytee 
of white lynnen clothe. And thei ben ryghte felonouse and foule, and of 
cursed kynd." — Voiage and Travaile, &c. p. 77, sqq. 

" They are of mean statures, raw-bone, tawny, having feminine voices, of 
a swift and noiseless pace — behind you, ere aware of them." — Sandys. 

* " Sur les bords de ce goife est un canton ou se trouvent plusieurs sources, et que 
sa fertiiite a rendu celebre : on l'appelle Phoenicon, a cause des palmiers qu'il pro- 
duit. Ces arbres torment un bois pour lequel on a le plus grand respect, parceque 
les environs, exposes a toute l'ardeur du soleil, sont brulans, sans eau, et sans 
ombrage 

" On y voit un ancien autel construit en pierres dures, et dont l'inscription est en 
caracteres inconnus. 

" Vers ces lieux on remarque des montagnes elevees de differentes couleurs : elles 
se prolongent pour former un cap, et s'etendent ensuite jusqu'a Petra, dans le pays 
des Arabes Nabatheens, et jusqu'a la Palestine." — Periples combines cT Agatha rc id es 
et d'Artemidore. Gosselin, Geographie des Anciens, t. 2, p. 232. 

M. Gosselin conceives tbat the palm-groves near Tor represent the ancient 
Phoenicon. 



403 



MOTES. 



" Sono huomini molto piccoli, e di color leonato scuro, e hanno la voce 
feminile e li capelli lunghi, stesi, e neri. Sono veramente questi Arabi una 
grandissima quantita, e combattono continualmente fra loro." — Barthema, 
Itinerario, 1503. 

" And they had hair as the hair of women," is expressly stated in the pro- 
phetical description of the Arab locusts, (Eev. ix. 8,) a metaphor, by the 
way, which the Arabs apply to themselves, to express their numbers ; see 
Antar, vol. i, p. 6, — " I must assail you without further preparation, and I 
shall command these armies, numerous as the locusts, to assault you, and 
to grind you like grain, and to ride you like lions ;"* — and again, vol. ii, 
p. 267, " They call on Antar, and their spears are like a descent of locusts 
«m a towering sand-hill." 
Every reader of ' Antar/ that most vivid picture of the desert life of the 
rabs, must have been struck by the constant reference to their dwelling 
* in the presence of all their brethren," as a principle of action. 

Note 5, Page 169. 

" Alvah— bois qui adoucit les eaux de Marah dans le desert. Moyse en 
avoit un morceau qui lui avoit venu par succession des patriarches depuis 
Noe, qui l'avoit conserve dans 1'Arche." — D'Herbelot. 

Note 6, Page 169. 

" The twelve fountains, and the seventy palm trees of Elim, are emble- 
matical of the twelve apostles of our Saviour, and the seventy disciples, 
sent forth to scatter the sweet waters of the Gospel over the world." — 
Michael Syncellus, Chronographia. Script. Byz. v. vi, p. 102. 

Note 7, Page 172.— Sea of Edom. 

" It is now an opinion generally received, that the Red Sea is the Idu- 
mean Sea, taking its name from Edom, or Esau, the Arabian patriarch; 
and Edom signifies red. The Arabians were, doubtless, the first navigators 
of the Indian Ocean, and, as they entered that sea by passing the straits 
of Babelmandel, they carried the name of the Eed Sea ; from whence they 
commenced their course, to the utmost extent of their discoveries. Hence 
the Indian Ocean received the title of Eed ; and the Greeks, who translated 
everything rather than introduce a foreign word, made it the Erythrsean 
Sea." — Vincent's Perijplus, vol. i, p. 350. 

Note 8, Page 174. 

The early pilgrims, who travelled in immense caravans, were often in 
great distress from want of water. Baumgarten describes their sufferings 
most affectingly: — 

a Travelling all that day and night, without eating, resting, or sleeping, 

* This is also a prophetical mark, Rev. ix. 7. 



NOTES. 



409 



we could not avoid falling off our camels, while we were half sleeping, half 
waking. A thousand strange dreams and fancies came into our heads, 
whilst hungry and weary, and we sat nodding on our camels. We thought 
we saw somebody reaching us victuals and drink, and putting out our hands 
to take it, and stretching ourselves to overtake it when it seemed to draw 
back, we tumbled off our camels, and by a severe fall found it a dream and 
illusion. We underwent the same hardship all the twenty-second and 
twenty-third days, mutually pitying one another's leanness and misery, 
and exhorting each other to patience and resignation.'' — Travels, lib. i, 
c. 27. 

Conf. Isaiah, c. 29, v. 8. 

" As when a hungry man dreameth, and lo ! he seemeth to eat, 
But he awaketh, and his appetite is still unsatisfied ; 
And as the thirsty man dreameth, and lo ! he seemeth to drink, 

But he awaketh, and he is still faint, and his appetite still craving; 
So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, 
Who have set themselves in array against Mount Zion." 

— And Tasso, Jerus., lib. xiii, 60. 

Note 9, Page 181. — Wady Feiran. 

Baumgarten and his friends found a very different reception :* — 
" That day, about noon, we came to a certain garden, where we were 
most barbarously used by the people who lived there. For, understanding 
that we were Christians, they came flocking out of their holes with a design 
to rob us ; and, raising a hideous cry, threatened us with their dreadful 
bows and spears ; some of them knocking us down off our camels, others 
taking us up, and protecting us from the fury of the rest. Our interpreter 
neglected us for some time, but did his part at last. However, we were 
five times knocked down, and had part of our provisions, that were not well 
enough hid, taken from us; and with great difficulty, after much noise and 
severe drubbing, we were let go, upon payment of eight pieces of silver 
each man." — Lib. i, c. 22. 

Belon, one of the most accurate and interesting of the early travellers, 
gives a pleasing account of Wady Feiran in 1548. After entering the valley 
by a " grande ouverture entre moult hautes montagnes" — and praising the 
" beau ruisseau d'eau douce de claire fontaine," " la premiere eau droicte- 
ment douce courante que nous eussions trouve sur le chemin depuis le 

* " That morning," says Baumgarten, " a little before entering Wady Feiran, there 
was running by us a bitch with her puppies, that belonged to one of the Arabians, 
who happening to bring forth her litter there, and seeing us leave her, was horribly 
afraid to be left there alone with her whelps. For a long time she seemed to be 
deliberating, at last fell a howling most mournfully, and chose rather to save herself 
by following us, than stay behind and perish with her puppies." 

George, the Carthusian Prior, the companion of Baumgarten, relates that, on their 
return from Sinai, the poor famished animal, after one bitter howl of recognition, 
made a meal on the remains of her offspring. — Georgii Prioris Ephemeris, — ap. Pezii 
Thesaurus, torn. 2, pt. 3, p. 493. 

The " Ephemeris" seems to be nearly the same work with Baumgarten's, under a 
different name. 



410 NOTES. 

Caire," he proceeds as follows: — "Nous trouvasmes un grand village a 
l'entree de ceste bouche, habite d'Arabes, nomme Pharagou, ou il n'y avoit 
que trois ou quatre maisons basties ; car les villages de ces pays-la ne con- 
sistent pas en maisons elevees, mais au nombre d'hommes qui habitent 

dessous les palmiers au descouvert ou dessous les rochers 

Le village de Pharagou nous sembla plaisant, au regard des pays que nous 
avions chemine ; car il y a bel ombrage de grenadiers, palmiers, oliviers, 

flguiers, poiriers, et autres arbres fruictiers Les hommes 

de ce pays sont contents d'habiter dessous les palmiers au descouvert, qui 
est la cause qu'ils sont de couleur d'olive. Et pour ce qu'il ne pleut gueres 
sur eux, il leur suffit d' avoir leurs maisons faits de rameaux de palmiers, 
appuyees la en contre les troncs pour les defendre quelque peu de la vehe- 
mence du soleil." — Observations, etc. c. 61, fol. 222 verso. 

Note 10, Page 186. 

Poor Baumgarten found it otherwise. " After delivering our letters from 
the Patriarch at Cairo, and having a room assigned us, and eat something, 
when we would have gone to rest, we were surrounded by a crowd of Ara- 
bians, who put all sorts of sleep out of our mind. They broke into our 
room, seized our things as if they had been their own, and in a barbarous 
manner repeated a certain sort of word tlus, (feloosh?) which with them 
signifies money; with which having stopped their hellish mouths and 
greased their ugly fists, we shut our doors again, and composed ourselves 
to our much desired rest." — Lib. i, c. 23. 

Note 1], Page 188. 

" There is the Chirche of Seynte Kateryne, in the whiche ben manye 
lampes brennynge. For thei nan of oyle of olyves ynow, both for to brenne 
in here lampes and to ete also. And that plentee have thei be the myracle 
of God. For the ravenes, and the crowes, and the choughes, and other 
fowles of the contree assemblen hem there every zeer ones, and fleen thider 
as in pilgrymage : and everyche of hem bringethe a braunche of the bayes 
or of olyve, in here beekes, in stede of offryng, and leve hem there : of the 
whiche the monkes maken gret plentee of oyle : and this is a gret marvaylle. 
And sithe that foules, that han no kyudely wytt ne resoun, gon thider to 
seche that gloriouse Virgyne ; wel more oughten men than to seche hire 
and to worschipen hire. Also behynde the awtier of that Churche is the 
place where Moyses saughe oure Lord God in a brennynge bussche. And 
whanne the monkes entren in to that place, thei don of both hosen and 
schoon or botes alweys ; because that oure Lord seyde to Moyses, Do of 
thin hosen and thi schon ; for the place that thou stondest on is lond holy 
and blessed. And the monkes clepen that place Bezeleel, that is to seyne, 
the Schadow of God. And besyde the highe awtiere, three degrees of 
heighte, is the fertre * of alabastre, where the bones of Seynte Kateryne 



* Sarcophagus, or bier; Lat, feretrum. 



NOTES. 



411 



lyzn. And the prelate of the monkes schewethe the relykes to the pil- 
grymes. And with an instrument of sylver, he frotethe the bones ; and 
thanne ther gothe out a lytylle oyle, as thoughe it were a maner swetynge, 
that is nouther lyche to oyle ne to baume ; but it is full swete of smelle : 
And of that thei zeven [give] a little to the pilgrymes; for there gothe out 
but lytille quantitee of the likour. And after that, thei schewen the head of 
Seynte Kateryne, and the clothe that sche was wrapped inne, that is zit alle 
blody. And in that same clothe, so y-wrapped, the aungeles beren hire 
body to the Mount Synay, and there thei buryed hire with it. And thanne 
thei schewen the bussche that brenned and wasted nought, in the whiche 
our Lord spak to Moyses, and othere relykes ynowe. Also whan the prelate 
of the Abbeye is ded, I have undirstonden be informacion that his lampe 
quenchethe. And when thei chesen another prelate, zif he be a gode man 
and worthi to be prelate, his lampe schal lighte, with the grace of God, 
withouten touching of any man. For everyone of hem hath a lampe be 
himself. And be here lampes thei knowen whan ony one of hem schalle 
dye. For whan ony schalle dye, the lyghte begynnethe to chaunge and to 
wexe dym. And zif he be chosen to ben Prelate, and is not worthi, his 
lampe quenchethe anon." — Mandeville, p. 71, seq. 

I transcribe a few lines from the Carmelite Le Huen's version of Brey- 
denbach's pilgrimage, (in his ' Grant Voyage de Jherusalem,') as a curious 
specimen of the enthusiastic devotion of the chivalrous votaries of St. Ca 
therine. " Quiconques est vray amateur, et devot orateur, culteur tres- 
reverend dicelle tressacre et bieneuree Vierge Katherine, estimera le labeur 
facile et plaisant pour 1' amour d'elle, combien qu'il soit grief et terrible, 
laborieux et mal, facillement se passera et surmontera. — Helas ! et qui ne 
l'aymeroit, celle que Jhesus a tant aymee si chierement, et enquise et pour- 
suite des sa jeunesse pour en faire son espouse : une dame si belle, si 
noble, et si tres-fort prudente, la Vierge Katherine ! Noble de sang, plus 

noble de vertus — la fleur de noble sang dont elle proceda Et 

combien que plusieurs soient trouves nobles et sages et plaines de vertus, 
Katherine emporte dignement le pris ; parquoy justement elle est a aimer et 
a venerer par toute excellence. Maintes dames sainctes ont eu sapience, 
les autres eloquence, les autres Constance ; cestecy a tous." .... 
Tanaquil, (he proceeds,) Calphurnia, the Sibyls, Sappho, Centona, Ange- 
riona, Isis, Ceres, Minerva — " toutes cellesicy ne vaillent pas ung clou ; car 
Katherine a la preeminence. — 0 vraye vierge et martyre venerande ! vierge 
des vierges ; gemme tres luisante ! du Roy des Roys espouse glorieuse ! 0 
une hostie a Jhesus precieuse, que tes servans remeris noblement qui de bon 
pueur te servent devotement !" 

Note 12, page 188. — Monks of Sinai. 

Frescobaldi, in 1384, found two hundred monks at Sinai ; one hundred 
and fifty resident in the monastery, each with a separnte cell, the rest dis- 
tributed between the chapel on the summit of the mountain, and the church 
of Santa Maria della Misericordia — as he names the convent of the forty 
martyrs. — Viaggio in Egitto, &c. Roma, 8vo, 1818, p. 20. 



412 



NOTES. 



There were only one hundred, when Rudolph the knight of Frameynsperg 
was their guest, in 1.346. All strangers, he tells us, were entertained three 
days, and on their departure, each was presented with ten loaves, sufficient 
for ten days* subsistence. 

They had then, as now, two small hells only, — hanging, at that time, in 
the principal church. 

" Item, in praedicto monasterio, et capella Moysis, versus plagam Aqui- 
lonis, situm est templum Idolorum rotundum, ad quod nullus Christianorum 
ingredi permittitur."— -Itinerarium, &c. ap. Canisii Lectiones Antiq. t. 4, 
p. 359. 

Note 13, Page 190. 

Mandeville, in 1325 — Baldensel, in 1336 — Frescobaldi, in 1384— 
Anshelmus, (author of a Descriptio Terrse Sanctae,) in 1509— Furer, in 
1565 — and all subsequent writers, identify Sinai with Gebel Mousa: — 

Frameynsperg, in 1346 — Breydenbach, in 1483 — Baumgarten, in 1507 — 
and Belon, in 1548 — with St. Catherine's. 

Mandeville speaks dubiously : — " Either mountain," he says, " may be 
called Mount Sinai, since the whole surrounding country is called the 
Desert of Sin." 

The Arab geographers appear to comprehend the whole nucleus of the 
Sinaite mountains under the name of Tor Sina. The dual number, Sinein, 
is also used by them, " comme qui diroit les deux Sinai," being " deux 
croupes separees— Horeb et Sinai." — D'Herbelol. 

Note 14, Page 190. 

Belon's good sense — a rare quality in the middle of the sixteenth century 
— refused credit to the legend. " Cestuy est le rocher dont sortit l'eau pour 
abbreuver les enfans d'Israel. Toute fois il est joignant un ruisseau 
courant qui vient de la sommite du Sinai. Cela nous fait penser ou que ce 
n'est pas celuy que frappa Moyse, ou qu'il n'y eust encor point d'eau en ce 
ruisseau la: mais, sauf meilleur jugement, nous penserions que les Caloires 
devroyent monstrer le roc a la source de la fontaine, dont sort l'eau le haut 
de dessous la montagne." — Observations, &c. p. 227. 

Baldensel, in 1336, says that the water produced by the rod of Moses " is 
in the monastery." Mandeville, a few years earlier, tells us, that " before 
the zett is the well where Moses smote the stone, of the which the water 
came out plenteously." The legend, therefore, cannot have been attached 
to the stone in the El Ledja before the 14th century. 

Note 15, Page 191. 

The Cypress was regarded with peculiar veneration by the Greek Chris- 
tians in the middle ages, as the tree of which the shaft of our Saviour's 
cross was made : — 

" The Cristene men, that dwellen bezond the see in Grece, seyn that the 



NOTES. 



413 



tree of the Cross, that we callen Cypresse, was of that tree that Adam ete 
the appulle of: and that fynde thei written. And thei seyn also, that herji 
Scripture seyth, that Adam was seek, and seyd to his sone, Sethe, that he 
scholde go to the aungelle that kept Paradys, that he wolde senden hym 
oyle of Mercy, for to anoynte his membres with, that he myght have hele. 
And Sethe wente. But the aungelle wolde not late him come in; but seyd 
to him, that he myghte not have of the oyle of Mercy. But he toke him 
three greynes of the same tree, that his fadre eet the apple offe ; and bad 
him, als sone as bis fadre was ded, that he scholde putte theise three 
greynes undre his tonge, and grave him so : and he dide. And of theise 
three greynes sprong a tree, as the aungelle seyde that it scholde, and bere 
a fruyt, thorghe the which fruyt Adam scholde be saved. And whan Sethe 
came azen, he fond his fadre nere ded. And whan he was ded, he did with 
the greynes as the aungelle bad him : of the whiche sprongen three trees, 
ot the whiche the Cross was made, that bare gode fruyt and blessed, oure 
Lord Jesu Crist ; throghe whom Adam and alle that comen of him scholde 
be saved and delyvered from drede of dethe withouten ende, but it be here 
own defaute." — Voiage and Travaile, &c. p. 13, 14. 

But the European superstition, by which the tremulous shiver of the 
aspen-leaf is accounted for, is still more beautiful : — 

" The blessed cross, whereon 
The meek Redeemer bowed his head to death, 
Was framed of aspen wood, and since that hour 
Through all its race the pale tree hath sent down 
A thrilling consciousness, a secret awe, 
Making them tremulous, when not a breeze 
Disturbs the airy thistle-down, or shakes 
The light lines of the shining gossamer. 

Child, (after a pause.) Dost thou believe it, father? 

Father. Nay, my child, 

We walk in clearer light. But yet, even now, 
With something of a lingering love, I read 
The characters, by that mysterious hour 
Stamp'd on the reverential soul of man 
In visionary days, and thence thrown back 
On the fair forms of nature. Many a sign 
Of the great sacrifice which won us heaven, 
The woodman and the mountaineer can trace 
On rock, on herb, and flower. And be it so ! 
They do not wisely that, with hurried hand, 
Would pluck these salutary fancies forth 
From their strong soil within the peasant's breast, 
And scatter them — far, far too fast ! away 
As worthless weeds : — oh, little do we know 
When they have soothed, when saved ! " 

Felicia Humans. 



414 



NOTES. 



Note 16, Page 193. 

i 

Justinian, says the historian Procopius, did not build the monastery on 
the summit of Mount Sinai — for no one can pass the night on it, on account 
of the continual clashing noises and other supernatural sounds heard there* 
- — but far below it ; and at the foot of the mountain he built a very strong 
fortress, and stationed in it a guard of soldiers to bridle the Saracens. — Be 
JEdificiis Dn. Justinia?ii 9 lib. 5. 

Would it not appear from this passage that the original monastery stood 
on the small plain, nearly on the site of the deserted Convent of St. Elias, 
and that, when the garrison was withdrawn, and the monks were left 
defenceless in the midst of enemies daily drawing the circle closer round 
them, they descended to, and occupied, the fortress ? The existence of the 
church and the Mosaic portrait of Justinian certainly militate against this 
supposition. [For the early accounts of the monastery and district gene- 
rally, see Dr. Eobinson's ' Biblical Eesearches in Palestine,' &c, vol. i, pp. 
180 sqq., and 556 sqq.— 1847.] 

Note 17, Page 194. 

" On the eighteenth day, about sun-rising, we came down the west side of 
Mount Horeb by a very steep and dangerous way, and came into a valley 
betwixt Mount Horeb and Sinai, in which there was a monastery dedicated 
to forty saints," and hence "we began to ascend Mount Sinai." .... 
" At last our ascent grew so difficult, that all our former toil and labour 
seemed but sport to this. However, we did not give over, but, imploring 
the Divine assistance, we used our utmost endeavour. At last, through 
untrodden ways, through sharp and hanging rocks, through clefts and hor- 
rible deserts, pulling and dratwing one another, sometimes with our staves, 
sometimes with our belts, and sometimes with our hands, by the assistance 
of Almighty God, we all arrived at the top of the mountain. The top of 
Mount Sinai is scarce thirty paces in compass ; there we took a large 
prospect of the countries round about us, and began to consider how much 
we had travelled by sea and land, and how much we had to travel, what 
hazards and dangers, and what various changes of fortune, might probably 
befal us. While we were thus divided between fear and hope, and possessed 
with a longing for our native country, it is hard to imagine how much we 
were troubled." — Baamgarten. 

* Marvellous sounds, of supernatural repute, still haunt the neighbourhood of 
Mount Sinai. One of the most romantic of these legends is that of the disappearance 
of a ccnvent, situated to the west of the peninsula, between the Sinaite mountains 
and the Gulf of Suez, which no one in these modern times, says Breydenbach, has 
ever been able to discover, though the music of its bells may be heard daily on the 
breeze at the canonical hours. Some Arabs declared they had been within it, but 
that the moment they recrossed the threshold they lost sight of it. 

This, idea probably arose from the natural phenomenon of Gebel Narkous, or the 
Mountain of the Bell, on the coast north of Tor ; a legend of " a bodiless hand ringing 
a bell" is attached to it by Sir Frederick Henniker. Burckhardt says that the 
Bedouins believe the sounds to proceed from a convent buried in the sand. 



NOTES. 



415 



Note 18, Page 197. 

This would have been no drawback in the estimate of the Persian 
poet : — " Le Mont Sinai est la plus petite des montagnes : mais elle est en 
tres-grande consideration aupres de Dieu par sa dignite, et par le rang 
qu'elle tient par dessus les autres montagnes." — Saadi, Gulistan, ap. 
D'Herbelot. 

Note 19, Page 202. 

" Recepte singuliere pour apprester la chair a gents qui vont 
en voyage lointaing : — 

"Nous chargeasmes aussi un chameau de chair preparee pour le voyage, 
ainsi qu'il s'ensuit. L'on tua grand nombre de moutons, qu'on fit bouillir de- 
hachez en pieces. En apres Ton separa la chair des os, qu'on tailla a petits 
morceaux, gros comme le bout du poulce, puis fut boullue en de la gresse 
jusques a la consomption de la humidite qui estoit dedens, avec des oignons 
cuicts. Cela faict, fut salee, epicee, puis mise en barils. Ceste viande est 
bonne a garder long- temps. Car encore qu'on 1'ait portee quinze journees, 
en la rechauffant, et y adjoustant un oignon, il semble que ce soit une fri- 
cassee fraischement faite du jour mesme, qui nous sembla fort bonne viande 
estants es deserts." — Belon, Observations, &c, c. 53, fol. 214, verso. 

Note 20, Page 204 . 

" A thousand fantasies 

Begin to throng into my memory, 
Of calling shapes or beckoning shadows dire, 
And aery tongues that syllable men's names 
On sands and shores and desert wildernesses." 

Comus. 

Milton, as has been well remarked by Warton, probably borrowed this 
idea from the popular narrative of Marco Polo : — speaking of the " hungry 
desert" (as it is called) of the Mongols, he says, — " it is asserted as a well- 
known fact, that this desert is the abode of many evil spirits, which amuse 
travellers to their destruction with most extraordinary illusions. If, during 
the day-time, any persons remain behind on the road, until the caravan has 
passed a hill and is no longer in sight, they unexpectedly hear themselves 
called to by their names, and in a tone of voice to which they are accus- 
tomed. Supposing the call to proceed from their companions, they are led 
away by it from the direct road, and, not knowing in what direction to ad- 
vance, are left to perish. In the night-time they are persuaded they hear 
the march of a large cavalcade on one side or other of the road, and, con- 
cluding the noise to be that of the footsteps of their party, they direct 
theirs to the quarter from whence it seems to proceed ; but upon the break- 
ing of day, find they have been misled, and drawn into a situation of danger. 
Sometimes, likewise, during the day, these spirits assume the appearance of 



41 G 



NOTES. 



their travelling companions, who address them by name and endeavour to 
conduct them out of the proper road. It is said, also, that some persons, in 
their course across the desert, have seen what appeared to them to be a body 
of arnied men advancing towards them, and, apprehensive of being attacked 
and plundered, have taken to flight. Losing by this means the right path, 
and ignorant of the direction they should take to regain it, they have pe- 
rished miserably of hunger. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief 
are the stories related of these spirits of the desert, which are said at times 
to fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also 
of drums and the clash of arms ; obliging the travellers to close their line 
of march, and to proceed in more compact order." — Book i, c. 35, p. 159, 
Afarsden's Edition. 

It will be seen, from the following passage of Vincent le Blanc, that a 
similar belief prevails in the Arabian desert ; the Bedouins are always un- 
easy if the traveller loiters at a distance from his caravan :— 

" From thence" (the Dead Sea) " we took our way through the open 
desert, marching in rank and file. Upon our march, we were froni hand to 
hand advertised that some one of our company was missing, that strayed 
from the rest ; 'twas the companion of an Arabian merchant, very sad for 
the loss of his friend : part of the caravan made a halt, and four Moors 
were sent in quest of him, and a reward of a hundred ducats was in hand 
paid them, but they brought back no tidings of him; and 'tis uncer- 
tain whether he was swallowed up in the sands, or whether he met his 
death by any other misfortune, as it often happens, by the relation of a mer- 
chant then in our company, who told us that, two years before, traversing 
the same journey, acamarade of his, going a little aside from the company, 
saw three men, who called him by his name, and one of them, to his think- 
ing, favoured very much his companion, and as he was about to follow 
them, his real companion calling him to come back to his company, he 
found himself deceived by the others, and thus was saved. And all tra- 
vellers in these parts hold that in the deserts there are many such phan- 
tasms and goblins seen, that strive to seduce the travellers, and cause them 
to perish with hunger and despair." — World Surveyed, p. 11. 

Many of these superstitions have probably arisen from those optical phe- 
nomena common in the desert ; others, doubtless, from the excited, and, 
as it were, spiritualized tone the imagination generally assumes in scenes 
presenting so little sympathy with the ordinary feelings of humanity. As 
an instance of this power of fancy, I may mention that, when crossing 
Wady Araba, in momentary expectation of encountering the Jehaleens, Mr. 
Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by no means disposed to 
superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of horse moving among the 
sand hills ; and, though we met none, and afterwards learnt that the enemy 
had already passed up the valley, I do not believe he was ever able to divest 
himself of the impression. 

Note 21, Page 206. 
The Gherashi, or Korashy, originally from the Hedjaz, are a branch of 
the illustrious tribe of Koreish, from whom Mahomet sprung. He was very 



NOTES. 



417 



kind to the monks of Sinai, and Pietro della Valle records a tradition that 
he was once the camel -driver of the Convent. 

Note 22, Page 203.— Nouebe. 

" The narrow plain, which rises here from the sea to the mountain, is 
covered with sand and loose stones. Ayd told me that in summer, when 
the wind is strong, a hollow sound is sometimes heard here, as if coming 
from the upper country. The Arabs say that the spirit of Moses then de- 
scends from Mount Sinai, and, in flying across the sea, bids farewell to his 
beloved mountains." — Burckhardfs Travels in Syria, p. 017. 

Note 23, Page 208. 

Procopius, like ourselves, restricts the appellation Red Sea to the gulf 
within the straits of Babelmandel, distinguishing the Elanitic arm, or gulf of 
Akaba, as the Sinus Arabicus, called so, he says, " because the region be- 
tween Aila and the territory of Gaza was formerly named Arabia, the king 
of the Arabs in elder times holding his court in the city Petra." — De btlto 
Persico, lib. i, cap. 19. — Scrijjt. Byzant., t. i, p. 262, edit. Ven. 

Note 24, Page 217. 

" There sit they chatting most of the day, and sippe of a drinke called 
Coffa, (of the berry that it is made of,) in little china dishes, as hot as they 
can suffer it : blacke as soote, and tasting not much unlike it — why not that 
Mack broth which was in use amongst the Lacedemonians ?" — Sandys' 
Travels, p. 66. 

Note 25, Page 220. 

The Mons As 8 char at of Abulfeda,* or Mount Seir of Scripture, is, I 
conceive, the MeXavi] opr], or Black Mountains, of Ptolomy, who extends 
them from the promontory of Phara, now Ptas Mohammed, to Judea^f The 
word Seir or Sihor, black, was used for the Nile in Hebrew.} 

" The Arabian Gulf," Sir Gardner Wilkinson informs us, was "called by 
the Egyptians the Sea of Shari," — may not the Shorii or Shari of Beit -Wei- 
lee be the inhabitants of Mount Seir ? 

In his Annales Muslemici, Abulfeda extends the appellation Schora to 
the district S.W. of Kerek el Shobek; the whole passage is interesting in a 
geographical point of view: — " Homaima oppidum est in Schora, tractu 
Syria? , quod oppidum a Schaubec diurno itinere minus abest, sic ut earn 

* Tabula Syriae, p. 13. 

t Brocardus, in the thirteenth century, says there are two Mount Seirs, that to 
which the name is now restricted, and Phar&n. — See his " Terree Sanctoe exactissima 
Description in the sixth volume of Ugolinvs Thesaurus. 

% " The form esh-Sherah," says Dr. Robinson, '-has no relation to the Hebrew Seir, 
the ancient name of this district. The Hebrew word means ' hairy,' and is written 
with 'Ain, which never falls away ; while the Arabic name signifies ' a tract, region.' " 
It can only, therefore, be by coincidence— and yet is a very singular one — that the 
terms MeAavrj opt] and Seir should correspond so exactly in meaning. [1S47.J 

E E 



418 



NOTES. 



inter et Vadi-Musa medium situm sit, et versus Schaubecse meridiem occi- 
dentalem spectet. Tota vero ilia planicies, quae a Sehaubec inde in meri- 
diem et occidentem porrigitur, Schora appellatur." — Vol. i, p. 477. 

Note 26, Page 224.— -Wady Mousa. 

" Cette contree etait entierement plantee d'oliviers feconds, qui formaient 
une epaisse foret et couvraient de leur ombre toute la surface de la terre ; 
leur produit servait aux habitans du pays, comme il avait serri a, leurs 
ancetres, a se procurer toutes les choses necessaires a la Tie ; cette res- 
source enlevee, ils devaient se trouver depourvus de tout moyen de sub- 
sistance," &c. — See William of Tyre's Histoire des Croisades, livre .16 ; 
torn. 2, p. 458. — (Guizots Collection des Memoir es relatifs a V Histoire de 
France.} 

He places Wady Mousa in the third Arabia, or Syria de Sobal, commonly 
called Terra de Montreal ; Petra was in those days mistaken for Carac, or 
Kerek, the Mons Eegalis of Godfrey : see livre 22, t. 3, p. 450. 

Brocardus de Monte Sion, who confounds the fort retaken by Baldwin 
with that of Kerek, calls it, however, ' Castrum Mozara,' — a corruption, 
apparently, of * Wady Mousa,' yet a most felicitous one, if, as Colonel 
Leake remarks in the Introduction to Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, 
" Mousa is perhaps an Arabic corruption of Mosera, where Aaron died." 

Bakoui, at the commencement of the fifteenth century, speaks of " beau- 
coup d'oliviers," in Ouadi Mousa. 

Note 27, Page 226.— Petra. 

From Bostra and Petra — the northern and southern capitals of Arabia 
Provincia — having begun to compute their years from the date of their sub- 
jection to Borne, it is probable that the architectural magnificence of both 
cities is to be ascribed to Trajan, who reduced the country in the seventh 
or eighth year of his reign. Du Cange remarked this 150 years ago — long 
before Petra had been recognised in Wady Mousa. — See his notes to the 
Chronicon Paschale, Script. Byz. torn, v, p. 453. 

But the importance of Petra, as the central point of commerce, "to which 
all the Arabians tended from the three sides of their vast peninsula," and 
from which " the trade seems to have been again branched out in every 
direction to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, 
Jerusalem, Damascus, and a variety of subordinate routes that all termi- 
nated on the Mediterranean," — dates from the most remote antiquity. — 
Vincents Periplus. 

The Al Bakim of Abulfeda, with its " houses cut in the live rock," is 
rightly identified by Schultens with the Apticefxrj of Josephus, and Petra of 
the desert. The word ' Bekem, 5 however, which occurs in Numbers, xxxi. 
8, and in Joshua, xiii. 21, is not the name of the city, as Bochart and Vin- 
cent suppose, but that of one of the five Midianite kings subdued by Moses, 
and tributary, it would appeal' from a comparison of the passages, to Sihon 
king of the AmoriteSx 



NOTES.. 



419 



Rekem, according to Calmet, signifies, in Hebrew, "painting or embroid- 
ery of several colours or shades;" may not this refer to the rainbow-like 
tints of the rocks at Petra ? * 

The original inhabitants of Petra — or Hagiar, as many of the Arab 
writers call it — and to whom her magnificent excavations are attributed by 
tradition, were the Beni Thamoud,f descended from a prince of that name, 
nephew of Arphaxad ; they were cutoff, in consequence of their impiety, 
by a judgment of God similar to that which exterminated the children of 
Aad. These two tribes, of gigantic stature, and of race distinct from the 
three great houses of Yoktan, Ishmael, and Esau, figure in the Arabian 
history much as the Titans and Giants do in the Grecian. For the destruc- 
tion of the Aadites, see the first book of Thalaba; that of the Thamud- 
ites is related as follows in the seventh chapter of the Koran , — " And 
unto the tribe of Thamucl we sent their brother Saleh. He said, ' 0 my 
people, worship God: ye have no God besides him, Now hath a manifest 
proof come unto you from your Lord. This she-camel of God { is a sign 
unto you ; therefore dismiss her freely, that she may feed in God's earth : 
and do her no hurt, lest a painful punishment seize you. And call to mind 
how he hath appointed you successors unto the tribe of Ad, and hath given 
you a habitation on earth ; ye build yourselves castles on the plain thereof, 
and cut out the mountains into houses. Remember, therefore, the benefits 
of God, and commit not violence in the earth, acting corruptly.' The chiefs 
among his people, who were puffed up with pride, said unto those who were 
esteemed weak, namely unto those who believed among them, 'Do ye know 
that Saleh hath been sent from his Lord V They answered, ' We do surely 
believe in that wherewith he hath been sent.' Those who were elated with 
pride replied, ' Verily we believe not in that wherein ye believe.' And they 
cut off the feet of the camel, and insolently transgressed the command of 
their Lord, and said, ' 0 Saleh, cause that to come upon us, with which 
thou hast threatened us, if thou art one of those who have been sent by 
God.' Whereupon a terrible noise from heaven assailed them ; and in the 
morning they were found in their dwellings prostrate on their breasts, and 
dead. And Saleh departed from them, and said, ' 0 my people, now have I 
delivered unto you the message of my Lord ; and I advised you well, but 
ye love not those who advise you well.' " — A fuller version of this story 
(expanded till the sublime is utterly lost in the ridiculous) will be found 
in D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale, on the authority of a paraphrast on 
the Koran. 

Mahomet himself halted at Hagiar on his expedition to Tabuc,§ in the 

* Baldensel describes the desert between Palestine and Mount Sinai as inhabited 
by an " infinita multitudo Arabum, qui dicuntur alio nomine Ridilbim : " a name 
which reminded Canisius of Thevet's assertion that Arabia Petrsea " is called by the 
Arabs in their patois, Rahhal Alhaga." Sandys says that Petra is called by the 
Arabs Rathalalah. Ptolomy, in his description of Arabia Petrsea, places the Raitheni 

Trapa ty\v opetvr\v Tt]<; eu5ai^iovo9 Apa/?tar. 

f They settled there after their expulsion from Yemen by the Hamyarites. _ 
} Produced miraculously out of a rock by Saleh, the proof of his divine mission. 
§ " Ad litus maris Rubri jacet urbs Madian, major quam Tabuc : et in ipsa extat 
puteus, e quo Moses, cui pax, adaquavit gregem Scioaib, Ab urbe Madian ad Ayla 

E E 2 



42 J 



NOTES, 



ninth year of the Hegira. The army, says Abulfeda, suffered much on the 
road from heat and thirst; " praesertim quuin Propheta illos. ad Hagrum, 
antiquam Tamuditarum sedem haerentes, vetaret aquas illas haurire, et 
haustas juberet effundere, et cmstula, si quae ilia ex aqua coxissent, camelis 
escam objicere." — Annates JIusIejnici, t. i, p. 173. 

The fullest Arab description of Petra is that given by Edrisi, in the 
twelfth century. — " At Tero Hagiar distat a Vadi Aliqora, * stat. 1 ; estque 
arx pulchre sita inter rnontes, in quibus commorabatur familia Thomud ; 
s unique in illis domus excisse in petra; atque hi montes vocantur ab habi- 
tatoribus Hagiar et earum partium, Alathaleb. (Id est, saxa. Marg.) Isti 
vero monies, quamvis aspicienti a longe yideantur conjuncti, tainen cum is, 
qui illuc pergit, accedit ad ipsos, et in medio eorum se constituit, deprehen- 
dit singulas partes per se existere, ita ut unaquaeque ambiri rossit, neque 
una alteram tangat, aut una cum altera commiscealur ; et est ibi modo 
puteus Thomud. Circuindant Hagiar undique montes et arenas., quorum 
cacumina nemo valet sine maximo labore ac difficult ate conscendere." — 
Geogr. Nub, p. 110. 

[I have retained the foregoing paragraphs, as the authorities adduced are 
interesting — but Dr. Robinson denies the identity of Hagiar (or Hijr) and 
Eekem with Petra, and apparently on sound considerations. See the 
'Biblical Researches,' vol. ii, p. 653. — 184?.] 

For a most interesting commentary on the history of Petra, I need hardly 
refer to a book so well known and so universally valued as Dr. Keith's 
Evidence of Prophecy. 

Note 28, Page 237. 

Both Mandeville and Baldensel mention Beersheba, having crossed the 
desert direct from Mount Sinai to Hebron — a journey of thirteen days. 
" That town of Bersabee, founded," says Sir John, " by Bersabee, the wif 
of Sire Urye the knighre," " was wont to ben a fulle faire town and a dely- 
table of Christien men ; and yet there ben some of their churches." — 
Voiage, p. 79. Baldensel uses nearly the same words, — ££ quondam fuit 
villa competens ; puJchras habuit ecclesias, quarum adhuc aliquae perse- 
verant ; pulcher valde locus est ; et delectabilis atque sanus." — Ap. Canisii 
Lectiones Ant., torn, iv, p. 345. 

Breydenbach mentions "the city of Abraham*' ("oppidnm Sancti 
Abrahe dictum") as lying to the left of his road from Hebron to Gaza.f A 

habetur intervallum quinque stationum .... A Madian ad Tabuc, per medi- 
terraneum, orientem versus, insunt stationes sex. Estque sita urbs Tabuc inter 
Hagiar et initium Damasei (initium autem Damasci. quod est in media fere via qua? 
ducit Damascum, distat ab ipsa stationibus quatuor) habetque intra se arc em pul- 
cberrimam: et scatebra aquas potum civibus suppeditat ; suntque in ea palmas per- 
multse. Dicuntur autem incolee Aicliee, ad quos Deus destinavit Scioaib, fuisse tunc 
in ipsa. Ceeterum Scioaib erat ex Madian. At vero Hagiar, &c. t " as quoted in tbe 
text: — Geogr. Nub., p. 109. 

* Aliqora. the Alcoura of other Arab geographers, (not to be confounded with the 
El Coura, or plain of Moab,) is the El Ghor, or the vallev of the Jordan. 

t Elsewhere, he says, that " Bersabee, now called Gallyn, is four leagues distant 
from Gaza, and, like Gaza, more than a day's journey from Hebron." 



NOTES. 



421 



noted hospital was maintained there by the Saracens, who supplied all, 
without distinction of sect or nation, that asked their charity, with bread, 
oil, and broth. Every day, he says, 1200 loaves were baked for the poor, 
and the annual expenditure of the establishment amounted to '24,000 
ducats.* 

This accurate and pleasing traveller crossed the desert from Gaza to 
Sinai by a route undescribed — so far as I am aware — by any other writer, 
and which I here subjoin abridged from his ' Itinerary .'t 

" Aug. 24, 1433. Quitted Jerusalem at vespers, and slept at Bethlehem, 
where we remained two days. 

" Aug. 27.— To Hebron. 

" Aug. 28. Starting before light, travelled the whole day till after sunset, 
when we found shelter in a large solitary house. Here the mountains end, 
and a tolerably fruitful and pleasant plain begins. Passed on the road a 
castle named after Saint Samuel, to the left of which is the city of Abraham, 
&c. &c. 

"Aug. 29. Reached Gazera (Gaza) a little after noon. Passed many 
cisterns to-day ; the Saracens draw up the water with great exertion, and 
offer it to pilgrims for the love of God. 

" TVe were detained several days at Gaza, a city twice as large and of 
twice the circumference of Jerusalem, but inferior to it in the structure of 
its edifices, 

" Sept. 10. Quitting Gaza, slept at Lebhem, a village a mile distant, 
where a large, deep, but dry well is shown as the night's resting-place of 
the Virgin and ber son on their flight into Egypt. We now entered the 
great Southern desert, 

" Sept, 11. Across a gravelly plain — horizon unbounded, except to the 
"West by the Great Sea — and encamped on a spot called in Arabic Cawatha, 
and in Latin Cades. 

" It was on this day that we came to the real desert, where man never 
dwelt, nor the son of man abode : a land that you can neither plough nor 
sow — no city, village, or hamlet — not a house — not a cottage visible as you 
proceed — no fields, no vineyards, no gardens or trees of any description, 
but a land scorched, burnt up, by the heat of the sun, utterly sterile and un- 
fruitful — abundant only in torrents, hills, and mountains, which bear the 
stamp of horror and the image of death. We often saw vast clouds rising 
over the desert like smoke, but soon found them to consist merely of dust 
and the finest sand, caught up by the wind. These sands are always shift - 

* That " he acted as his father had done in keeping up the establishments for 
guests, in protecting the timid and the helpless, and in clothing the widowed and the 
naked," is the commendation of Khaled in the romance of " Antar." 

f When this work was last published, I had not been able to procure Tucher's 
rare Itinerary, printed in 1482 ; and since obtaining it, I find that Dr. Robinson has 
given an abridgment of his route from Gaza to Sinai, by a more easterly track than 
Breydenbaeh's. " He appears," observes Dr. Robinson, " to have crossed the Tih by 
the pass el-Mureikhy, which he calls Roackie. He gives the following names:— Sept. 

22. Mackati, wady.— 33. Xockra, wady. — 26. Lodra, wady.— 27. Schilludy, mountain. 

23. Toriko.— 30. "Viniheine, wady. Oct. 1. Roackie, pa.-s, [el-Mureikhy.]— 2. Mal- 
chalach, wady." — Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 564. [1S47.] 



422 



NOTES, 



iiig ; where to-day the path is clear, to morrow you will find a little mountain 
in its place. Thus slowly step by step advancing, we reached, on 

" Sept. 12, a place called Gayan, where we pitched our tents in the dry 
bed of a torrent. 

" On the 13th, came to a great torrent-bed in the mountains, called Wa- 
dalar,* where we saw quantities of coloquintida. 

" On the 14th, entered a solitude, still more desolate than that we crossed 
yesterday and the day before — no men, cattle, or birds (except ostriches) to 
be seen : thence — between lofty and sterile mountains, ' non nisi limpidissimis 
et abruptissimis petris coagnlata,' and named, from their ruggedness, Gebel 
Helelt — to a sandy spot called Magare. 

" On the morrow, crossing another very rugged desert, and much colder 
than usual in the East, halted in a flat chalky spot, Mynscheue.J 

" On the 16th, through another broad and rugged district, (said to extend 
for two months' journey eastward, and thought by some to be part of the 
Torrid Zone, and to be prolonged as far as Paradise,) to Alherock. 

" Sept. 17th, to Mesmar, at the foot of a lofty mountain, (apparently 
artificial,) named Caleb. 

" Sept. 18, the ground covered with depositions of salt — halted in the 
dry bed of a torrent. § 

" Sept. 19, reached those mountains from which you get the first sight 
of Horeb and Sinai, still four days distant, to the left, and on the right the 
Red Sea. The road here so rocky and precipitous that we were obliged to 
dismount and go on foot.|| Rested in some eaves near a place called Rama- 
thym. No water, trees, or shrubs. 

" Sept. 20th, rising with the dawn, entered rugged mountains of mingled 
red and black, shining in the sun as if anointed with oil ; the air quite per- 
fumed with the blossoms of the Spina-Christi tree. Here we saw a beast 
larger than a camel, which our guides told us was an unicorn.^" Towards 
evening, halted at Scholie. 

" Henceforth, in all our difficulties and fatigues, we had this constant- 
consolation, that the star called St. Catherine's, brighter than any of the 
other constellations, rose every night after twelve in the South, and hovering 
over Mount Sinai till the morning, pointed out our way.** 

" At sunset on the 21st, we encamped in Abulherock, a great plain shut 

* " "Wady el-'Arish," suggests Dr. Robinson, who has given Breydenbach's route hi 
the Notes to his " Biblical Researches," vol. i, p. 564. [1847.] 
t Jebel Helal — Robinson. [1847.] 

X " Hacbssene el Hasana," according to Dr. Robinson, is mentioned on the 15tb 
September, before arriving at Mynscheue, by Fabri, a companion of Breydenbach on 
this route. [1847.] 

§ Named Meschmar, by Fabri. [1847.] 

fl " Sept. 19, the pass of Rackami, ' er-Rakineh.' "—Robinson. [1847.] 
% A wood-cut representing the unicorn, crocodile, salamander, capre da India, 
giraffe, camel, and a baboon (with the legend, " non constat de nomine,") holding it 
by the bridle, will be found on the verso of Breydenbach's map of Syria. The wood 
engravings in this work are extremely curious, and often very spirited, and were 
executed, as we learn incidentally in the text, from the drawings of "Erhardus 
Rewic-h de Trajecto Inferiori, pictor ille artificiosus et subtilis .... qui omnia loca 
in hoc opere depicta docta manu effigiavit." 

** So too Hans Tucher, 4th October, 1479, in the journal of bis pilgrimage, printed 
in 1482. [1847.] 



NOTES. 



423 



in on every side "by lofty mountains, and in which Moses is said to have 
kept the flock of Jethro ; a hollow in the rock, commanding a view of the 
whole plain, was shown to us as the place where he sat and slept. 

" On the 22nd, getting up very early in the morning, we entered the 
inner wilds of the desert hy a narrow pass which led us into a large sandy 
plain — " 

— the El Raha of modern travellers, which Breydenbach and his 
companions entered from Wady Sheikh — and here I leave them. 

Note 29, Page 238. 

Yet the ancient name is not forgotten — Abulfeda calls it Beit Chabrun. 

Breydenbach describes Old Hebron as "hodie omnino destructa; et 
sunt mine ejus magne valde, et videtur fuisse satis gloriosa." Four bow 
shots to the S. E. was New Hebron, built on and around the sepulchral cave 
of the patriarchs. 

Note 30, Page 240, 

The old pilgrims delight to dwell on the etymologies of Bethlehem and 
Nazareth : — 

" Bethlehem, which is, being interpreted, the House of Bread Nor is it 
called so without good cause, for the fruit of life sprung there from the flower 
of Nazareth — the son, namely, of the living God, Christ Jesus — the bread of 
angels and the life of the whole world." — Johannis Wirzburgensis 
Descriptio Terra Sanctce, seculo 13. ap, Pezii Thesaur., t. i, part 3, 
p. 490. 

"Nazareth is als moche as to seye, Flour of the Gardyn; and be gode 
sky lie may it ben clept Flour, for there was norisscht the Flour of Lif, that 
was Crist Jesu." — Voiage &c, of Sir John Maundevile, p. 136 

Note 31, Page 247.- The Ghor. 

The following description of the Ghor is given by John of Wirzberg, in 
the thirteenth century : — " A montibus Gelboe usque ad lacum Asphal- 
titis, vallis est ilia, per quam labitur Jordanis ; et hsec vallis vocatur, ut 
diximus, praegrandis seu campestris,quae ex utraque parte vallatur continuis 
montibus a Libano usque ad desertum Pharan." — Descriptio Terra Sanctce, 
c. 5, ap, Pezii Thes. t. i, p. 3, p. 505. 

Similarly Ebn Haukul : — <* The district of Ghour . . . commences at the 
borders of Arden" (the country of the Jordan) ; " when it passes them, it 
extends to the boundary of Palestine, and in like manner reaches to Aileh." 
— Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukul, translated by Sir W. Ouseley, p. 
41: or., as quoted by Abulfeda — " Incipit al Ghaur a mari Gennesareth. 
unde protenditur ad Baisanam, hinc ad Zoaram et Jerichuntem usque ad 
Mare Mortuum, hinc ad Ailam." — Tabula Syria, p. 9. 

[Since this work was published, it has been ascertained that a line of 
cliffs, forming a watershed, from which the waters flow respectively North 
and South into the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba, crosses the Ghor to 
the N. of a place named es-Zuweirah. — This of course disproves the hypo- 



424 



NOTES. 



thesis, that the Jordan discharged itself into the Gulf of Akaba previous to 
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The name of the Ghor is now 
restricted to that portion of this immense valley which lies to the North of 
the line of cliffs above mentioned; all to the South of it is the Araba. — ■ 
This, on the other hand, (Araba,) is the precise name given by tbe writers 
of the Old Testament to the whole of the valley from the Sea of Tiberias to 
the gulf now called of Akaba. See Dr. Robinson's 'B. Researches/ vol.ii, 
pp. 258, 490, 599.— 1847.] 

Note 32, Page 249. 

It would be difficult to read, without a smile, the following comparative 
estimate of distances, in the environs of Jerusalem and London : — 

" Now concerning how the country about Jerusalem lyeth, for your more 
ease and perfect understanding, I will familiarly compare their several places 
with some of our native English towns and villages, according to such true 
estimation as I heare made of them. 

" The river Jordan (the very nearest part thereof) is from Jerusalem as 
Epping is from London. 

" Jericho, the nearest part of the plaine thereof, is from Jerusalem as 
Lowton Hall, Sir Robert Wrath's house, is from London. 

" The lake of Sodom and Gomorrha is from Jerusalem as Gravesend is 
from London. 

" The fields where the angels brought tidings unto the shepherds, lye 
from Jerusalem as Greenwich doth from London. 

" Mount Olivet lyeth from Jerusalem as Bow from London, 

" Bethania is from Jerusalem as Blackwall is from London. 

" Bethphage is from Jerusalem as Mile End is from London. 

" The valley Gethsemane is from Jerusalem as Ratcliffe fields lye from 
London. 

" Brooke Cedron is from Jerusalem as the ditch without Aldgate is from 
London," &c. 

The distances of Bethlehem, Beersheba, Gaza, Joppa, Samaria, and Naza- 
reth, from Jerusalem, are similarly estimated by those of Wandsworth, 
Alton, Salisbury, Aylesbury, Royston, and Norwich, from London. 

See the " True and Strange Discourse of the Travailes of two English 
Pilgrimes, etc., ivritten by Henry Timberlake, on the behalfe of himselfe 
and his fellow pilgrime, (1601.)" 4to, 1620. 

Note 33, Page 249.— Burckhardt. 

The rough unfinished state in which his journals were left is against it 
— and their scrupulous minuteness ; yet there are many most touching pas- 
sages scattered through them. 

I cannot refrain from transcribing Mr. Legh's account of his interview 
with Burckhardt in Nubia. Two Arabs had hailed that gentleman from 
the shore — he demanded what they wanted — " To our great astonishment, 
we were answered in English, and immediately recognised the voice of our 



NOTES. 



425 



friend Sheikh Ibrahim, whom we had left at Siout in Upper Egypt, ex- 
tremely well dressed after the Turkish fashion, and in good health and con- 
dition. He had now all the exterior of a common Arab, was very thin, and 
upon the whole his appearance was miserable enough. He told us he had 
been living for many days with the Sheikhs of the villages through which 
he had passed, on lentils, bread, salt, and water, and, when he came on 
board, could not contain his joy at the prospect of being regaled with animal 
food."* 

No one, observes this intelligent traveller, was ever better fitted for such 
undertakings as Burckhardt was employed upon — " his enterprise, his 
various attainments in almost every living language, and his talent for 
observation, are above all praise." 

Note 34, Page 263.— Sea of Galilee. 

" Au milieu du Lac est un rocher creuse, dans lequel on croit qu'est le 
tombeau de Salomon. Le philosophe Lokraan a ete enterre a Thiberiade.'"f 
— Bakoui. 

Motanebbi } has inserted a beautiful compliment to this lovely lake in a 
poem addressed to his benefactor Ali ben Ibrahim, and inserted, for that 
reason, by Koehler in the Appendix to Abulfeda's Syria: — • 

" Save for thee, son of Ibrahim! I would not quit the Lake of Tabaria 3 
while the Ghor is warm, and its wave cold. 

" The water -birds float on its billows, like the riders of black horses 
without bridles. 

" When the winds lash it — you would think you saw two armies, one in 
flight, the other in pursuit. 

" The moon sheds her radiance on the Lake, but black groves girdle it 
round. 

" It is soft to the touch, like a body — yet without bones ; it rejoices in its 
finny daughters, yet never knew the pains of a mother. 

a The birds warble on its banks ; copious showers irrigate its gardens. 

" It flashes like to a round mirror when the veil that hides it is with- 
drawn. 

" Yet this is to its shame — that it is notorious over the whole earth, 
what vile and cowardly inhabitants defile its territory." 

* But this is nothing to what he underwent on his journey through Arabia Petraea ; 
see his Travels in Syria, p. 433. 

t The author of the Tarikh Montekheb, however, says that the tomb of Lokman 
was in his time (the fourteenth century) to be seen at Ramlah. 

t This illustrious poet was born at Cufa in the 303rd year of the Hegira, and, after 
a wandering unsettled life, courted wherever he went, yet rendered miserable by 
his overweening vanity, was slain by robbers near Bagdad, in 354 — a.d. 965. — See 
D'Herbelot, v. 3, p. 737. Seif Addaulet, the Sultan of Aleppo, appears to have been 
bis chief patron ; the court of that monarch, says Carlyle, " was the most polished in 
the East ; the Sultan and his brothers were all eminent for poetical taients, and 
whoever excelled, either in literature or science, was sure of obtaining their patron- 
age ; so that, at a time when not only Europe, but great part of Asia was sunk in the 
profoundest ignorance, the Sultan of Aleppo could boast of such an assemblage of 
genius at his court as few sovereigns have ever been able to bring together." — Speci- 
mens of Arabian Poetry, &c, p. 97. 



426 



NOTES. 



Had this poem been written in the middle of the sixteenth instead of 
that of the tenth century, the satirical allusion at the close might have been 
explained, in accordance with the prejudices of the age, by the following pas- 
sage from Belon : — " Les villages sont maintenant habitez des Juifs, qui 
ont nouvellement basty en tons lieux au tour du lac, et pour y avoir invente 
des pescheries, 1'ont rendu peupie qui estoit auparavant desert." — Observa- 
tions, &c. c. 90, p. 263. 

Note 35, Page 265. — Bethsaida. 

The ruined Khan near the shore, called Khan Mennye, must be the one 
referred to by Seetzen under the name Beit-Zeide, which he passed soon 
after crossing the Jordan, on his road from Damascus to Tabaria. See his 
" Brief account of the Countries adjoining the Lake of Tiberias," &c. p. 20. 
-—The Beitsida, discovered by Pococke, was two miles west of the Lake. 

[Dr. Eobinson thinks that the places mentioned to Pococke and others, as 
Capernaum, Chorazin, Bethsaida, &c, were responsive to leading questions 
on the part of the travellers, and are therefore not to be depended upon. 
" The very names of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin, have," he says, 
"perished." — B. Researches, vol. iii, p. 295. —1847.] 

Most of the old pilgrims record a belief which once prevailed, grounded 
on our Saviour's denunciation against Chorazin, that it was to be the birth- 
place of Antichrist. 

Note 36, Page 277.— King Baldwin's Expedition against Jerash. 

William of Tyre notices this Expedition as follows, in the twelfth book of 
his History: — 

" L'annee suivante, (1122,) Doldequin (Toghteghin), perfide et impie 
roi de Damas, conclut un traite avec le prince des Arabes, et prit a son 
service ses chevaliers. Voyant notre roi fort occupe des affaires des deux 
pays qu'il avoit a gouverner, et accable de sollicitudes qui semblaient 
depasser ses forces, Doldequin envoya ses legions dans les environs de 
Tiberiade, et fit ravager toute cette contree. Le roi, en ayant ete informe, 
rassembla aussitot ses chevaliers dans tout son royaume, et lui-meme, selon 
sa coutume, partit en toute hate pour Tiberiade. Doldequin, instruit de sa 
prochaine arrivee, jugeant Men qu'il lui serait impossible de poursuivre son 
entreprise avec succes, et n'osant se mesurer avec sonennemi, se retira dans 
I'mterieur de ses etats. Le roi dirigea sa marche vers le midi avec ses 
bataillons, et arriva a Gerasa. Cetlc ville, situee dans la tribu de Manasse, 
a quelques milles du Jourdain, et tout pres du mont Galaad, etait autrefois 
Tune des plus nobles cites de la province dite Decapolis. Une portion de 
la ville avoit ete abandonnee depuis long-temps, dans la crainte des invasions 
ennemies; il en restait encore la partie la mieux fortiflee, dans laquelle 
Doldequin avaitfait elever l'annee precedente une citadelle construite a grand 
frais et batie en grandes pierres carrees. Le roi assiegea le fort avec la 
plus grande vigueur aussitot qu'il y fut arrive: quarante soldats, qui y 
avaient ete laisses pour le defendre furent forces de le livrer, a condition 



NOTES. 



427 



qu'il leur serait permis de se retirer sains et saufs dans leur pays. Alors le 
roi mit en deliberation dans son conseil s'il vaudroit mieux raser le fort, ou 
le conserver aux Chretiens. On reconnut enfin que ceux-ci ne pourraient 
jamais s'y maintenir sans de grandes depenses et des fatigues continuelles, 
et sans se voir constamnient en peril, exposes aux attaques de tous les 
^assans, et Ton resolut en consequence, a l'unanimite, de detruire la nou- 
velle forteresse."— Hist, des Croisades, torn, ii, p. 221. 

None of the Arabian geographers appear to take the slightest notice of 
Jerash. 

Note 37, Page 282. — Ammon. 

"Amman, urbs antiqua, quae jam ante Islamismum destructa est. Saepius 
ejus mentio fit in annalibus Israelitarum. Est vero jam ingens area 
ruderibus obsita. Sub ilia decurrit fluvius az Zerka, qui religiosorum e 
Syria. Chegjazam petentium occurrit catervis. Urbs ad occidentem hujus 
rivi et ad Boream Barkat Ziza (s. B. Zaira) sita est ad mansionem fere 
inde. Est vero sub ditione al Balkce. Supersunt rudera ejus ingentia. In 
agro ejus sunt terebinthi aliusque generis arbores. Cincta est undique arvis. 
Solum enim illud est purum et salubre. In Ketab al Athwal Loth dicitur 
ejus fundamenta jecisse. Secundum al Lobab est urbs el Belkse." — Abul- 
feda Tabula Syria, p, 92. 

Colonel Chesney, in 1830, visited " some ruins called Djezia," several 
hours to the South-East of Ammon, where " all he found was a large birket, 
or reservoir, measuring 120 paces in length by 90 broad." — (Travels &c. of 
George Robinson, Esq,, vol. ii, p. 179.) This is, probably, the Birket Ziza 
of Abulfeda. 

Note 38, Page 285.— Assalt. 

The castle of as Szalt was built, according to Abulfeda, by El Melek el 
Moadham, the captor of St. Louis, and the last of the direct line of Saladin. 
He was murdered by his Mamalukes, in 1250. Sheikh Dhaher, the cele- 
brated predecessor of Djezzar in the pashalic of Acre, " almost wholly 
rebuilt it," says Burckhardt, " and resided here several years." 

" The city," says Abulfeda, " is populous ; a copious fountain, springing 
up at the foot of the mountain, runs down into it ; there are mauy gardens, 
and great over the whole earth is the fame of its pomegranates." — Tabula 
Syria, p. 92. 

Note 39, Page 289. — Ajeloon. 

Abulfeda speaks of the castle of Ajeloon as recently built by Azzodin, 
(otherwise named Osamat, " qui fuit ex majoribus Emiris Sultani Salochod- 
dini,") to control the natives of Mount Aouf. It is strongly fortified, he 
says, and of great fame, and can be seen from Besan. The cultivated part 
of the mountain is remarkable for its trees and streams, and a soil of ex- 
treme fertility — I can attest the truth of this description. — Tabula Syria, 
p. 13, and pp. 92-3. 



428 



NOTES. 



Note 40, Page 293. 

Apropos of ladies' costume : it may not be generally known that bussels 
and patches are both of Eastern origin. Patches were, according to Abul- 
ghazi Khan, a favourite ornament of the ladies of Tungoose Tartary, and 
D'Arvieux considers the fashion described as follows, and still of general 
prevalence among the Arab women, as an approximation to them : — " Elles 
se font faire de petits points noirs aux cotes de la bouche, du menton, et 
aux joues, qui leur tiennent lieu de mouches ; quand le nombre n'en est 
pas grand, cela leur est un agrement." — Memoires, &c, torn, ii, p. 297. It 
was reserved for the ladies of England to invest patches with the dignity of 
party signals; see the Spectator, Number 81. — Bussels are of Persian 
origin, being, as Dr. Nott observes in his Notes critical and explanatory on 
the Odes of Hafiz, " the refaight, or that kind of bolster which the Persian 
ladies fixed to the under garment, and which was to produce a certain round- 
ness which they thought becoming." 

Note 41, Page 297. 

Abulfeda mentions this road in his account of Scharchhod, or Salkhud: 
— " A plaga. ejus orientali porrecta est via regia ar Baszif, — i. e. aggeribus 
munita, in Irakam ferens. Tradunt itinera, huic qui insistat eum decern 
circiter diebus ad Bagdadum pervenire." 

The whole district took the name of Strata from the road that passed 
through it. — See Procopius de Bello Persico, Script. Byz., torn, i, p. 256, 
edit. Ven. 

Almonzar, or as this writer styles him, Alamundarus, was singularly 
skilled in warfare, bold but prudent, and a most faithful adherent to the 
Persian interest. For fifty years he harassed the Eomans, and brought 
them, so to speak, to their knees. They could not have had a more trou- 
blesome enemy. From the borders of Egypt to the banks of the Euphrates, 
like a bird of prey, he was constantly on the wing — plundering, killing, and 
carrying away captive the few he did spare in expectation of ransom. Had 
he lived longer, says the Byzantine, he would have depopulated the whole 
East. 

To balance his power, Justinian invested Aretas, or Hareth, chief of 
the tribe of Gassan, and the natural enemy of Almonzar, with the supe- 
riority over all the tribes who acknowledged the Eoman yoke. 

The aspect of the same landscape, as viewed through variously tinted 
panes of the window, is not more different than that of human character as 
contemplated through the medium of friendship or enmity ; and yet, in both 
cases, the features remain unaltered, the tints only vary. One w r ould 
scarcely suppose that, in the following character of Almonzar, the his- 
torian of Antar delineated the same moral landscape as the Byzantine Pro- 
copius : — 

" Monzar was an intelligent man and very regular in administration of 
justice, and prudent in policy. For this reason Chosroe had appointed him 
king over the Arabs, and, when he was present in the palace of Chosroe, be 



NOTES. 



429 



enjoyed superior dignities, and he was never styled tut as king of the Arabs. 
And Chosroe used to treat him as a friend, and to eat and drink with him, 
and when they were busy in conversation Monzar used to describe to him 
the peculiarities of Mecca and the sacred shrine, and their glory over the 
Deelimites and the Persians, and used to recite to him the verses of the 
eloquent men. And Chosroe, in his impartiality, was pleased with him, 
and enjoyed his society, and loved to dignify him with presents of gold and 
silver ; for the Chosroes of Persia were renowned for their love of justice 
and impartiality, and abhorred oppression and violence, ruling over mankind 
with impartiality and generosity." — Antar, v. 1, p. 227. 

" 0 great and renowned monarch," said Antar, "be glorified ! for no one 
can ever vaunt himself superior to thy glories. As to liberality, thy hand 
has grasped it all ; as to rain, thy palm bestows it — and thy hand calms 
every woe. How many hast thou relieved from sorrow, whose pains vanish 
as soon as thy countenance appears ! The armies of battle are thy drawn 
sword, and, wherever it moves against the foe, it vanquishes. May the 
glory it desires never fail it, and may the world ever be at thy command ! 
May thy Lord ever grant thee every favour, and mayst thou avert and sub- 
due all thy enemies ! May the projects and efforts of man ever fail against 
thy enterprises, and may glory ever belong to the grasp of the hand and 
the fingers of King Monzar ! He has attained every honour, every 
virtue, every excellence, every felicity, and universal liberality." — Ibid. 
p. 313. 

And this was the man who, if we may believe Procopius, sacrificed to 
Venus a son of Aretas, whom he had surprised and taken prisoner ! 

Monzar's usual title in ■ Antar,' is " King of the Arabs, ruler of the 
tribes of Lakhm and Juzam." Monadherah, or Monzar, was the usual name 
of the Lakhmite kings of Hira, as Hareth or Aretas was that of the Gassan- 
ites of Syria. Both families came originally from Yemen, being descended, 
by different brothers, from Cahlan son of Saba, of the illustrious race of the 
Hamyarites. 

The ancestors of the tribe of Gassan quitted Yemen after the deluge of 
Irem, and, arriving at Gassan, a well-watered and fertile district on the bor 
ders of Syria, drove out the Dhajaame Arabs who then occupied the spot, 
and established themselves in their stead. An Aretas is mentioned in the 
history of St. Paul, and the name is familiar to the reader of Josephus. 
Their descendants still reigned over the Syrian Arabs at the birth of 
Mahomet ; most of them were Christians, and held their power under 
the Roman Emperors, as the Lakhmites held theirs under the Chos- 
roes of Persia.* The last of their kings embraced Islamism under the 
Caliph Omar. 

A descendant of this illustrious race — himself illustrious for his genius 
— is numbered among the literati of Spain, as a panegyrist of Saladin. — 
D'Herbelot. 

* " At that time," says Asmaee, " Chosroes and Caesar reigned over the whole 
earth, and the Euphrates divided them. The Emperor ruled over the countries of 
Europe and the Christian tribes, and Chosroe Nushirvan ruled over the Arabs and 
the Persians."— Antar, vol. i, p. 302. 



430 



NOTES. 



Some, also, of the tribe of Lakhm, settled in the district of Uliberis, the 
modern Elvira, near Granada. — Casiri, Bibl. Arab. Hisp. Escurialensis, t. ii, 
p. 252. 

Note 42, Page 302. 

I cannot trace the route of the army on the modem map of Syria, nntil it 
reaches Adrate, the modern Daara, or Edrei. 

Potu/3, according to Eusebius, quoted by Eeland, was a town four miles 
distant from Scythopolis, or Bethsan. But this place, though it might have 
given its name (if then remembered) to the "terra de Boob," vaguely 
identified by Baldensel with Upper Galilee and Decapolis, has evidently no 
connexion with the 'valley of Boob' of William of Tyre. Calmet gives 
us more assistance ; " Syria of Bohob, or Behob," says he, " was that part 
of Syria, of which Behob was the capital, near the northern frontier of the 
Land of Promise, (Numb. xiii. 21), on the pass that leads to Emath or 
Hamath. It was given to Asher, and lay contiguous to Aphek, in Libanus. 
Josh. xix. 2S — 30 ; xxi. 13. Laish, situate at the fountains of Jordan, was 
in this country, Judg.i. 31." 

The Medan is the name of the plain where one of the branches of the 
Jordan re-appears, after its subterraneous course from the lake Phiala* 
"Innumerable multitudes," says an old writer, " meet here at the beginning 
of summer, with goods of every description for sale." Eugesippus de dis- 
tantiis locorum Terra Sanctce — compiled in 1150, ap. Leon. Allatii Sym~ 
micta, p. 109. The Saracens, says Breydenbach, from Aran, (Hauran,) 
Mesopotamia, Syria, Moab, Ammon, and all the east country, meet round 
the fountain Phiala, and, pitching their tents of divers colours, (beautiful 
to behold,) hold a fair there through the whole summer.— The former of 
these passages accords best with the words of the Archbishop of Tyre : — 
"La plaine que Ton appelle Medan, et ou. les Arabes et les autres peuples 
orientaux se reunissent tons les ans pour nne foire considerable." 

Note 43, Page 306.— Bozrah. 

To the argument already alluded to in a note on Petra, Du Cange 
adds the positive testimony of a medal inscribed Nova Trajana Bostra, 
in proof of the architectural munificence of that Emperor having been 
extended to one, at least, of the sister capitals of Arabia Provincia. 

\Yilliam of Tyre writes the name Bussereth ; the Assises de Jerusalem, 
Bethseret: De Saligniac, before 1525, Burseth, — the common pronunciation 
of the present day is Bussra. 

Abulfeda describes the castle as " aedificatum ad instar arcis Damascenae." 
He says nothing of the vines for which Bostra was formerly celebrated, but 
the dependent town of Salkhud he describes as abounding in them. — Tabula 
Syria, pp. 99, and 105. 

"Cette ville, au rapport du geographe Persien, a un chateau tres-fort, 
une porte de la hauteur de vingt coudees, et un des plus grands bassins ou 
mares d'eau, qui soit dans tout le Levant." — D'Herbelot. 



NOTES. 



431 



Note 44, Page 312 Nedjraun. 

The inscription runs as follows : — 

Tov 8s viov ol rvfj.j3ov avi]o ojomjtoc eceifie 

TLpOJVOQ apTUTTTjg VLUJVOQ (pl\a<7o\[3lOQ T. 
OQ 7TO0' IjytfJLOVOQ [3tv£(piKiapiog* kcli tci99voq 
snXero (poiviKov oaXfiariog avra Cofioio 
avXrjg to 7rpo7rapoL9e evtvhiv oii^ cnr 9 aXXuv 
OTnrarav ai eQtXijcriv bfiouov Qavaroio 
otypa vsKvg r avcpseauiv am Zojoktlv evay. 

Note 45, Page 320.— Palmyra. 

Palmyra was first made known to Europe by some English merchants in 
1691; it had long been known to the Arabs under the ancient name Tad- 
mor, which it still retains. Bakoui, at the close of the fourteenth century, 
describes it as " remplie de colonnes de marbre et de statues ; on pense que 
ce sont des genies qui Tout batie pour Salomon."' Abulfeda mentions 
briefly its ancient columns, palms, and olive-trees. Benjamin of Tudela, 
about 1160, says that two thousand Jews dwelt there, "valiant, and ready 
prepared for battle," — " qui cum Christianis et Arabis qui inrperio Noraldini 
parent bellum gerunt, et vicinis suis, sc. Ismaelitis, suppetias ferunt.'' Abou 
Obeid, a writer cited by Schultens, and whose mention of both obelisks 
being erect at Heliopolis proves him to have lived before 1160, gives a 
short but interesting description of Palmyra, from which it would appear 
that the stone folding doors of the great gate of the temple-court were still 
existing, and in use, when he wrote his Geographical Lexicon. The whole 
passage is worth extracting: — " Tadmor," says he, " substructionis est ad- 
miraudae, quippe quae columnis albis marmoreis tota sustinetur ac suspen- 
ditur. Ejus incolae dictitant jam ante Salonionem Davidis filium earn 
extitisse. Nunc degunt in arce quadam ejusdem, quae muro lapideo est 
septa, et cui porta est bipatentibus e lapide valvis praedita. Durant in ea 
turres fastigatae ad hoc usque ternpus. Habent et fluvium qui palmas eorum 
hortosque rigat," — Bohadini Vita Saladini; Index Geogr.voce Tadmor. 

Note 46, Page 323. 

This appears, from Mr. "Wood's account, to have been a sepulchre ; it has 
sadly fallen to ruin since his day. 

Note 47, Page 320. 

A Cufic inscription is painted on the right of the doorway, entering this 
tomb. 

* Bev€<pima\ios (?) — " beneficialis, beneficiarius, apparitor, minister magistrate 
Gloss. Basil. Bei eqjiHiaXioi, 61 CTpuTt WTat 677 1 Vepaneiu tojv Ma-jicrrpaTfav Ttraifiei/Oi.** 
Lucange, in voce. 



432 



NOTES. 



Note 48, Page 327. 

" Nowhere could we discover in the face of the heavens more beauties, 
nor on the earth fewer, than in our night travels through the deserts of 
Arabia." — Woods Baalbec, p. .15. 

Note 49, Page 333. 

Beret ani means " the second Tillage," — it was the second we came to 
after crossing Antilibanus. Yet the name might well remind us of home, 
for Mr. Farren informs me that beret anic would imply in Arabic, "the land 
of tin," — tantamount to the Cassiterides of Herodotus; and he is inclined 
to think that the name N 77*701 BpETavvuccu is derived from it. 

Note 50, Page 33b\ — Baalbec. 

That the unfinished temple was dedicated to the great Gods of Heliopolis 
would appear from the votive inscriptions on two bases of the portico, 
(built into the eastern wall of the platform,) purporting that, for the wel- 
fare of Antoninus Pius and his mother Julia, the inscribers had been at the 
expense of preparing capitals for the columns, " dum erant in muro inlu- 
minata." Mr. Wood understands these as the names of Caracalla and his 
mother Julia Domna. I should rather suppose them to be those of Bassi- 
anus, commonly called Heliogabalus, as Priest of the Sun at Emesa, who 
assumed the name of Antoninus, and his mother, Julia Soaemias. What 
could be more natural than for the Syrian Heliogabalus to propose the 
completion of the great Temple of Heliopolis ? 

Note 51, Page 343. — Baalbec. 

" Beyond the borders of Demesck," says Ebn Haukul, in the tenth cen- 
tury, " is Baalbec, situated on an eminence. Here are the gates of palaces, 
sculptured in marble, and lofty columns, also of marble; in the whole 
region of Syria there is not a more stupendous or considerable edifice than 
this." 

The Temple of Baalbec was built, according to popular superstition, by 
Solomon, for the reception of Belkeis, Queen of Sheba; or, as others say, 
for that of his Egyptian bride, the daughter of Pharaoh. Asmodeus, the 
Asmugh div of the Persians, was the architect, if we may believe Benjamin 
of Tudela. The Sabian or Fire-worshippers, according to an Arab writer 
cited by Abulfeda, held it in high reverence as the work of their ancestors. 

Baalbec is often mentioned in the chronicles of the crusaders, and is 
always identified by William of Tyre with Heliopolis. Warfare and earth- 
quakes have both contributed to its present state of ruin. 

Baumgarten visited Baldach, as he calls it, (the country of Baldach, the 
friend of Job,) in 1507, but his chief admiration was attracted by the huge 
stone that lies in the quarry near the town, " resembling for bigness a tower 
or a hill; " near it, he says, stand " three pillars, not unlike those that are 



NOTES. 



433 



to be seen in St. Mark's place in Venice," — these have disappeared. " Not 
far from thence is the Castle Baldach; the rows of pillars are admirable, 
being stones of a huge bigness ; the building is very high and stately, but 
all gone to ruin, yet even what is left shows there has been there some- 
thing very great and noble." 

Belon's account of Baalbec is very succinct ; he mentions, however, the 
granite columns of the Sheikh's tomb, to the west of the town, which 
escaped the notice of most subsequent travellers : — " Approchants de Bal- 
bec, trouvasmes un sepulchre en la campagne, soustenu de gros pilliers 
courts et ronds faits de la pierre Thebaique, dont le faiste estoit une voute 
de grosses pierres dessus, qui se termine en poincte." Most of the inhabit- 
ants at that time were Jews. 

Andre Thevet, who visited Palestine in 1551, and styles Belon " mon 
amy . . . et mon compaignon du pais de Levant," mentions having seen at 
" Baalbeth," " vingt-sept colomnes de diverses haulteurs, dont la nioindre 
avoit pour le moins douze brasses de haulteur, et deux et demie de largeur. 
On m'a asseure que depuis mon partement Sultan Solyman (mort depuis 
huict ans) a faict mener une partie de ces colomnes en Constantinople, 
comme il feit de mon temps plusieurs autres qui estoient en Egypte, pour 
orner et deeorer sa mosquee, commencee du temps que j'y estois." — Cosmo- 
graphie Universelle, Paris, 1d7d,/oI. 192 verso. 

We owe the first accurate account of Baalbec to Monconys, who visited it 
in 1647, and, with a more discerning eye than honest Maundrell, (whose 
fidelity deserves the praise of every one who has had the opportunity of 
verifying his descriptions,) immediately recognised the dependence of the 
two courts and the nine larger pillars on one unfinished design; announc- 
ing, moreover, the existence of the dedicatory inscription to the great Gods 
of Heliopolis, and of that in the gallery under the platform, imperfectly 
given by Maundrell. See his Voyages, &c, pp. 347, sqq. — a curious 
medley of valuable and worthless information. 
, La Koque spent a fortnight at Baalbec, in 1688 ; his account is exagger- 
ated, but furnishes many curious particulars. Mauudrell's, in 1696, is 
meagre; Pococke's, in 1738, good; but all verbal descriptions have been 
superseded by Wood's folio, 1757, which leaves nothing to be desired on 
the subject of Baalbec. 

Note 52, Page 343. 

" Nous y trouvames en deux jours les quatre saisons de l'annee. Car au 
pied de la montagne il y fait une chaleur tres vehemente ; a moitie de sa 
hauteur lair y est tempere, comme au printemps et en automne; et au 
sommet Ton n'y void que des neiges et des ghnpons, vrais images de l'hyver." 
— Voyage d'ltalie et du Levant, de Messrs. Fermanel, Fauvel, &c, en 1630 ; 
Eouen, du. 1670, p. 209. 

Note 53, Page 344. 

I transcribe the following passage from Belon's travels, in the hope of 
directing the attention of some future traveller to the ruins mentioned by 

F F 



434 



NOTES, 



him: — Starting from Baalbec on his road to Horns, in the evening, " nous 
trouvasmes une plateforme, faite de pierre de grosse etoffe de massonnerie, 
situee sur le pendant d'un coustau, ayant vingt et einq pas de longueur, et 
quinze de iargeur, spacieuse par le dedans, dont les murailles ne sont gueres 
hautes, toutefois sont de desmesuree espaisseur. Arrivez le soir en un 
village nornme Lubon, nous trouvasmes un edifice antique, fait par les 
Eomains, qui est eneor tout entier, de grosses pierres massives de deux 
toises de Iargeur. Ce village est bien ombrage d'ormeaux et noyers, et est 
arrosee d'un ruisseau qui descend de la montagne. Au partir de la nous 
vinsmes gagner une plaine. Quand nous fusnies un peu advancez, com- 
mengasmes a monter une colline, &c." Beyond it, after repelling an attack 
of the Arabs, " nous passasmes nostre chemin, et ne cheminasmes gueres 
que ne vinssions en une grande plaine, qui est semblable a celle de Damas, 
en laquelle l'eau est conduite par petits ruisselets, en sorte que tout le ter- 
ritoire est rendu fertile." This plain was thickly covered with villages. 
Presently, losing sight of Lebanon, they began crossing mountains, " les- 
quelles s'eslargissants de coste et d'autre entourent une grande campagne 
en laquelle nous descendismes au pais de Cilicie " — or Horns. 

I am permitted to insert the following interesting extract from a letter of 
Mr. Farren : — 

" The ' Megaret el Eahab,' which you see in the map, signifies ' the 
caverns of the monks,' and I think it must be the spot I passed, on ascend- 
ing the valley of the Bekaa northwards, (though it is not so called there,) 
at the point where Antilebanon begins to decline, and the vale, by gentle 
undulations, expands itself into the great plain of Horns. The caves are 
on the western bank of the Orontes, and most of them resemble ancient 
tombs. Not far from them is the small town or village of Hurmel, which 
is covered with fragments of antiquity. 

" On the eastern side of the stream, and within half an hour of its bank, 
stands a curious monument, which, placed on a most commanding situation, 
is visible for hours in the distance. It is a square building, of solid 
masonry, and without aperture or chambers. It rests on a pedestal of steps, 
and is surmounted by a pyramid or cone. The faces of the square are orna- 
mented with pilasters, (Doric, I think,) and on a broad entablature are 
sculptured, in bold relief, the figures of dogs, boars, gazelles, and various 
implements of the chase. It may have been dedicated to Diana, or com- 
memorative of a great hunting match. It is very remarkable that the faces 
of this monument are covered with small marks, cut on the stones, — hiero- 
glyphics I cannot call them — they are too numerous to be accidental, and I 
was convinced that they were not from the mere process of chiselling the 
3tones.* 

" Hurmel is very inaccurately placed in Arrowsmith's map, with Corry's 
corrections, the one I had. It is on the west, and not on the eastern side 
of the valley ; nor does Antilebanon run parallel to the other range up into 
Northern Syria, but (nearly in a line with this monument) its elevations 



* Can these be the marks or monograms of the masons in that remote day ? [1847.] 



NOTES. 



435 



subside into the valley, which, as I have mentioned, expands round it into 
that of Horns, and stretches out to the desert." 

Note 54, Page 345. 

El Hakim, according to Egyptian tradition, was a wise astrologer and 
mighty magician, and built on Mount Mokattam, east of Cairo, a mosque 
and an observatory — to the latter of which he was in the custom of retiring 
to make his talismans, " an art in which he was very skilful. The Egyp- 
tians say that he could go in and out into all the caves under ground, 
where he knew the treasures of the ancient kings and lords of Egypt to be 
hid, and that he could make use of them when he pleased ; and that, by the 
power of magic and the extraordinary skill that he had in that art. 

" According to the example of those great men, a little before his death, 
he buried his own treasures, and put a crocodile made by the talismanical 
art, to keep them. 

"In this mountain, and near this mosque, he caused several caves to be 
digged, wide and large, in the rock, so as to pass from one into the other; 
in the furthermost he caused a pond to be made to keep water in, cut in the 
rock ; in it is a crocodile that begins to fly at one as soon as a man enters 
in. Moreover, in the bottom of the water, is to be seen a door which leads 
to other caves under ground, where the records of Egypt declare that his 
treasures are hid. - No man can imagine from whence this water can come, 
for the cave is upon a high mountain which is very dry always, and in this 
place is no spring ; and it is not known what this crocodile is, and how he 
may be nourished during so many ages. To take this treasure, you must 
know how to undo this talisman, that is, one must take away the water and 
the life of the crocodile ; for both are the effects of magic, which depend 
upon the art of the talismans." — VansleVs Present State of Egypt, 
p. 170-1. 

The Bibliotheque Pvoyale at Paris ought to be very rich in the magical 
lore of the Arabians, for Vansleb, a devout believer in their supernatural 
powers, tells us that amongst other rare " Manuscripts," he had been very 
diligent in collecting and sending to Paris " the ancientest and best authors 
of the Arabians, which might give some light and knowledge of this noble 
science. I may say that I have emptied Egypt of them, with an intent that 
if I was ever admitted to the service of him who had given me this com- 
mission,* I might have the time and the means to discover with ease the 
admirable secrets of this science, and to unfold the enigmas under which it 
lies hid ; and by the same means to discover of what consequence those 
manuscripts are, though they are despised by some that "nderstand not 
neither their price nor use." 

Note 55, Page 345. — Fakr ed-din. 

Fermanel and his friends give an interesting account of their interview 
with this remarkable man, in 1630, at Beirout. He was very partial to that 

* The great Colbert. 
F F 2 



436 



NOTES, 



town, they say, " a cause qu'il y arrive quantite de navires de la Chres- 
tiente ; s'y rend fort familier avec les marchands Chrestiens, jusques a 
vemr jouer avec eux. Nous ne voulusmes pas manquer a luy faire la 
reverence, et luy faire presens d'une veste de drap : il nous receut courtoise- 
lnent, nous faisant disner avec luy, ou nous fusmes traitez comme en la 
Chrestiente, y ayant tables, linges, chaires, et la viande, quoy que grossiere, 
bien acconimodee. Ce prince avoit soixante et dix ans, mais neantnioins il 
se portoit bien, estant encore dispos et habile a toutes sortes d'exercises : il 
estoit de moyenne stature, de couleur basanee, les cheveux tous blancs, et 
les sourcils si grands qu'iJs luy couvroient presque la veue. Nous ne 
pouvions assez admirer comment il mange oit, car il en prenoit plus que 
quatre de nous autres. Au reste c'estoit un homme plein d'esprit, verse en 
plusieurs sciences, grand herboriste, philosophe, et astrologue, et n'enten- 
doit que trop de ia Magie naturelle. II estoit estime pour un des plus 
habiles hommes de la Turquie. II traittoit bien ses subjets ; les Chi'es- 
tiens n'y sont aucunement subjets aux avanies, et y vivent avec autant de 
liberte que dans leur pais naturel ; le voyage que ce Prince a fait en la 
Chrestiente, ayant demeure l'espace de quatre ans a Florence, a beaucoup 
servy a polir ses mceurs et son esprit, et a rendre sa domination ainsi douce.' r 
— Voyage en Italie et du Levant, &c, p. 326-7. 

The river Kishon, according to M. Fermanel, divided Fakr-ed-din's 
country from that of the Emir Turabeye, of whom D'Arvieux has given so 
interesting an account, and whose dominion extended over part of Samaria 
and Lower Galilee, and the whole coast from Carmel to Jaffa, — Nablous, 
Jerusalem, and Judea, belonged to the Emir Faroux. The ancestors of 
these Princes ruled over Palestine at the time of Sultan Selim's conquest, 
and were confirmed by him in their authority on engaging to pay a regular 
tribute. 

Note 56, Page 347. 

This episode in the history of the Saracen conquest is related as follows 
by Ockley, after Al Wakidi :— 

M Deir Abi'l Kodos lies between Trix/oli and Harran. There lived in 
that place a priest eminent for Ins singular learning, piety, and austerity of 
life, to such a degree that all sorts of persons, young and old, rich and 
poor, used to frequent his house, to ask his blessing, and to receive his in- 
structions. There was no person, of what rank or quality soever, but 
thought themselves happy if they had his prayers ; and whenever any young 
couple amongst the nobility and persons of the highest rank were married, 
they were carried to him to receive his blessing. Every Easter there used 
to be a great fair kept at his house, where they sold rich silks and satins, 
plate and jewels, and costly furniture of all sorts. 

" Abu Obeidah, now possessed of Damascus, was in doubt whither to go 
next. One while he had thoughts of turning to Jerusalem; another, to 
Antioch. Whilst he was thus deliberating, a Christian, that was under the 
Saracens' protection, informed him of this great fair, which was about thirty 
miles distant from Damascus. When he understood that there never used 



NOTES. 



437 



to be any guards at the fair, the hopes of an easy conquest ana large spoil 
encouraged him to undertake it. He looked round about upon the Mussle- 
mans, and asked which of them would undertake to command the forces he 
should send upon this expedition ; and at the same time cast his eye upon 
Caled, but was ashamed to command him that had been his General so 
lately. Caled understood his meaning; but his being laid aside stuck a 
little in his stomach, so that he would not proffer his service. At last 
Abd'ollah Ebn Jaafar, (whose mother was, after his father Jaafar was killed 
in the wars, married to Abubeker,) offered himself. Abu Obeidah accepted 
him cheerfully, and gave him a standard and five hundred horse. There 
was never a man of them but what had been in several battles. The Chris- 
tian, who had first informed them of this fair, was their guide. And whilst 
they staid to rest themselves in their march, lie went before to take a view 
of the fair. When he came back, he brought a very discouraging account ; 
for there had never been such a fair before. He told them, that there was 
a most prodigious number of people, abundance of clergy, officers, courtiers, 
and soldiers. The occasion of which was, that the Prefect of Tripoli had 
married his daughter to a great man, and they had brought the young lady 
to this reverend priest, to receive the communion at his hands. He added 
that, taking them altogether, Greeks, Armenians, Coptics, Jews, and Chris- 
tians, there eould be no fewer than ten thousand people, besides five 
thousand horse, which were the lady's guard. Abd'ollah asked his friends 
what they thought of it ? They told him that it was the best way to go 
back again, and not to be accessary to their own destruction. To which he 
answered, ' that he was afraid, if he should do so, God would be angry with 
Mm, and reckon him amongst the number of those who are backward in his 
service; and so he should be miserable.' 'I am not,' said he, ' willing to 
go back before I fight, and if any one will help me, God reward him ; if 
not, I shall not be angry with him. 5 The rest of the Saracens, hearing 
that, were ashamed to flinch from him, and told him he might do as he 
pleased, they were ready at his command. 

" 'Now,' says Abd'ollah to the guide, ' come along with us, and you shall 
see what the Companions of the Apostle of God are able to perform.' 
'Not I,' answered the guide, 'go yourselves; I have nothing to say to you.' 
Abd'ollah persuaded him with a great many good words, to bear them com- 
pany till they came within sight of the fair. Having conducted them as far 
as he thought fit, he bade them stay there, and lie close till morning. 

" In the morning they consulted which way to attack them to the best 
advantage. Omar ebn Eebiyah thought it most advisable to stay till 
the people had opened their wares, and the fair was begun, and then fall 
upon them when they were all employed. This advice of his was approved 
by all. 

" Abd'ollah divided his men into five troops, and ordered them to charge 
in five different places, and not regard the spoil nor taking prisoners, but 
put all to the sword. 

" When they came near the monastery, the Christians stood as thick as 
possible. The reverend father had begun his sermon, and they thronged 



438 



NOTES. 



on all sides to hear him, with a great deal of attention. The young lady- 
was in the house, and her guard stood round about it, with a great many of 
the nobility and officers richly clothed. When Abd'ollah saw this number 
of people, he -was not in the least discouraged, but turned himself about to 
the Saracens, and said, 1 The Apostle of God has said, that Paradise is 
under the shadow of swords ; either we shall succeed, and then we shall 
have all the plunder, or else die, and so the next way to Paradise.' The 
words were no sooner out of his mouth, but he fell upon them, and made a 
bloody slaughter. 

" When the Christians heard the Saracens make such a noise, and cry 
out 4 Allah Acbar !' they were amazed and confounded, imagining that the 
whole Saracen army had come from Damascus, and fallen upon them ; 
which put them at first into a most terrible consternation. But when they 
had taken time to consider and look about themselves a little, and saw that 
there was but an handful of men, they took courage, and hemmed them in 
round on every side, so that Abd'ollah and his party were like a white spot 
on a black camel's skin." 

Meanwhile, news had reached Abu Obeidah of the stress in which his 
friends found themselves, and the gallant Caled, forgetting his late grievance, 
and exclaiming that, if Omar had given the command of the army to a child 
he would have obeyed him — much more one whom he respected as having 
embraced Islamism before himself— leapt on his horse, summoned his men, 
" and away they flew with all possible speed. And if we consider the cir- 
cumstances, they had need make as much haste as they did; for that small 
number of Saracens which had made the first attack, was quite drowned 
and overwhelmed in that great multitude of Christians, and there was 
scarce any of them but what had more wounds than one. In short, they 
were at their last gasp, and had nothing left to comfort them but Pa- 
radise. 

"Fighting in this desperate condition, about sun-set they saw the dust 
fly and horsemen coming full speed, which did rather abate than add to 
their courage ; they imagining at first that they might be Christians. At 
last, Caled appeared, fierce as a lion, with his colours flying in his hand, 
and made up to Abd'ollah, who with much ado had borne up his standard all 
this while, and was now quite spent. 

" But, as soon as they heard Caled's voice, and saw the Mahometan ban- 
ner, the sinking drooping Saracens, who were scarce able to hold their 
swords, as if they had had new blood and spirits infused into them, took 
fresh courage, and all together rent the skies with ' Allah Acbar !' Then 
Abd'ollah charged the guard which was round the monastery on the one 
side, and Derar Ebnol Azwar on the other. The Prefect of Tripoli him- 
self was engaged with Derar, and was too hard for him, got him down, 
and lay upon him; at which time Derar secretly drew a knife, which he 
used to carry about him against such occasions, and stabbed him. Then 
he mounted the Prefect's horse, and cried out ' Allah Acbar !' 

<£ Whilst Derar was engaged with the Prefect, Abd'ollah Ebn Jaafar had 
taken possession of the house, but meddled with nothing in it till Caled 



NOTES. 



439 



came back, who had gone in pursuit of those Christians he had beaten, 
and followed them to a river which was between them and Tripoli. The 
Greeks, as soon as they came to the river, took the water. Caled pursued 
them no farther, but when he came back he found the Saracens in the 
monastery. They seized all the spoil, silks, cloaths, household stuff, fruits, 
and provision, that were in the fair, and all the hangings, money, and plate 
in the house, and took the young lady, the Governor's daughter, and forty 
maids that waited upon her. So they loaded all their jewels, wealth, and 
furniture, upon horses, mules, and asses, and returned to Damascus, having 
left nothing behind them in the house but the old religious. 

"Whilst the Saracens were driving away the spoil, Caled called out to 
the old Priest in the house, who would not vouchsafe an answer. When he 
called a second time, ' What would you have ?' said the Priest ; ' get you 
gone about your business, and assure yourself that God's vengeance will 
light upon your head for spilling the blood of so many Christians.' * How 
can that be,' said Caled, ' when God has commanded us to fight with you 
and kill you? and if the apostle of God, of blessed memory, had not com- 
manded us to let such men as you are alone, you should not have escaped 
any more than the rest, but I would have put you to a most cruel death.' 
The poor religious held his peace at this, and answered him never a word." — 
Hist, of the Saracens, vol. i, pp. 138, sqq. 

I grieve to add that the captive bride was never ransomed. She lived in 
Abd'allah's harem for at least forty-five years, at the expiration of which 
time she was transferred to that of the Caliph Yezid, at the request of the 
latter. Her charms must have been as perennial as Helen's. 

Note 57, Page 347. 

The people of Bethulia, near Jerusalem, a place celebrated for a vigorous 
stand made there by the Christians, are considered by themselves and the 
surrounding country to be of foreign origin and to speak a dialect, which 
is said to resemble the Maltese. — Information from Mr. Furren* 

Note 58, Page 350. — Cedars of Lebanon. 

Furer, in 1565, speaks vaguely of " about twenty-five cedars." Rauwolff, 
in 1575, found " twenty-four, that stood round about in a circle, and two 
others, the branches whereof are quite decayed with age." What follows 
is remarkable : " I also went about in this place to look out for some young 
ones, but could find none at all." It appears, therefore, that none of the 
secondary growth are three hundred years old.* 

* His words, in the original German, are: — " Und ob solcher Cedarbaum schon 
diss Gebirge vor Jaren sehr vollgestanden, so habens doch mitler zeit dermassen 
abgenommen, dass deren nicht mehr (wie ichs gezehlet) dann nur vier und zwentzig 
in einem kleinen Kreyss herumb zu sehen, und under anderen noch zween, deren 
Erste nabe gar vor alter abgefallen seind. So bin ich auch ferrner auff dem Platz 
umbher gangen, mich nach anderen jungen weiter umbzusehen hab aber keine, die 
hernacher wachssen, finden mogen." — Beschreibung der Reyss, &c., vol. ii, p. 145 ; 
and the translation in Ray's " Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages," vol. i, 



440 



NOTES. 



Badziwil, in 1583, Biddulph, about the commencement of the sixteenth 
century. De Breves, in 1605, and Lithgow, in 1612, found the same num- 
ber, twenty-four. All these travellers protest against the prevailing super- 
stition, that it was impossible to count them correctly, an idea acccuuted 
for as follows by the narrator of De Breves' journey: — " Quant au nombre 
de ceux qui resteut au lieu susdit, que plusieurs veulent estre mysterieux 
et estrange, escrivans n'avoir jamais este trouve au vray, j'en ay conte vingt 
quatre par deux fois. et plusieurs de nostre compagnie autant, quelques uns 
aussi moins, et d'autres plus; mais en cette variete et difference n'y a point 
de miracle ; 1'eiTeur vient de ce qu'aucuns de ces arbres estans sees et 
dennez de feuilles, aucuns jettans du pied deux ou trois troncs, et aucuns 
autres jeunes naissans de la racine des vieux, il y en a qui content ceuxcy, 
d'autres les obmettent, — aucuns de plusieurs troncs n'en font qu'un arbre, 
d'autres en font plusieurs. — aucuns laissent les sees, d'autres les nombrent, 
et par ainsi se trouve pen de convenance aux rapports qu'on en fait .... 
Au reste, je n'en ay veu que vingt quatre, s'entend de vieux pleins de vie 
et de verdeur." — Eelation des Voyages, &c, p. 55. 

Fermanel, in 1630, found twenty-two, and one lately fallen, having been 
accidentally set fire to by some shepherds. Boger, who quitted Palestine 
in 1634, after five years' residence, mentions twenty-two, and two others, 
" de meme antiquite. qui sont a terre sans feuilles et sans fruit, neantmoins 
sans corruption. One possibly of the fallen trees is reckoned by D'Aivieux 
in his enumeration of twenty-three, to be seen there in 1660. La Boque, 
in 16SS. found twenty. — lEaundrell, in 1636, only sixteen, — Pococke, 
in 1736, fifteen, the sixteenth having been blown down shortly before his 
visit. Two more have perished during the last century. 

It is gratifying to reflect that great care is now taken of these 'remnants 
of the giants.' The trees are accounted sacred, and the Patriarch performs 
a solemn yearly mass under their shade on the feast of the Transfiguration. 

Note 59, Page 354. — Convent of Canubin. 

"Nous apprimes d'eux qu'entre plusieurs monasteres qu'il y avoit autre- 
fois sur le Lib an, on en comptoit trois principaux, du nombre desquels etoit 
Canubin, lequel contenoit seul trois cens religieux ; et parceque e'est 
1'unique des anciens qui subsiste encore aujourd'hui avec un nombre con- 
siderable de moines, et qu'il est d'ailleurs le chef de tout l'ordre ecclesias- 
tique et religieux de la nation Maronite, le nom de Canubin lui a ete donne 
du mot grec latinise Coenobium, comme qui diroit le Monastere par excel- 
lence." — La Eoque, Voyage de Syrie et du 31. Liban,X. i, p. 56. 

" Ce dit monastere de Canubin fut basty par Saladin, lors qu'il prit ce 
pays, a cause du bon accueil qu'il avoit receu du superieur, y passant in- 
connu." — Monconys, Voyages, p. 554. 

Twenty thousand monks, according to La Boque, once inhabited the con- 
vents and hermitages dependent upon Canubin. 

Among many pleasing tributes to the hospitality and worth of the patri- 
archs and monks of Canubin, I select the following from the narrative of 



NOTES. 



441 



De Breves' travels in the Levant, in 1605, on his retnrn from Constanti- 
nople, where he had resided above twenty years as political representative of 
France : — 

" lis n'ont aucun revenu que leurs bras, et font profession de pauvrete, 
non de mendicite : aux intervalles de leurs devotions, ils travaillent tous, 
non par divertissement, comme nos religieux, mais de necessite, pour se 
nourrir, et pour faire charite aux pauvres : les uns cultivent la terre ann 
d'en tirer les grains, herbages, et legumes ; les autres font des nattes et 
conns de feuilles de palmiers, pour vendre, comme Sainct Hierome remarque 
es Vies des Peres ; les autres nourrissent les vers a soye et s'occupent a 
d' autres exercises : bref, leur vie est active et contemplative ensemble ; 
jamais ne maugent chair nipoisson, ainsi vivent seulement de racines, d'her- 
bages, de legumes, et de fruits, dont ces montagnes sont assez fertiles. 

" Dans ledit convent, qui est la residence ordinaire du Patriarche, il a 
pour tout logis une chambre meublee d'une chaire de bois, d'une tablette, 
ou sont quelques livres, et de deux ou trois petits tapis esteudus sur le 
plancher, qui a la mode Turquesque luy sert de table et de lit : neantmoins, 
parmy ceste indigence, il est ayme et revere de son peuple comme undemy- 
dieu, a cause de la candeur et saintete de sa vie." 

De Breves found four prelates, two archbishops, and two bishops in at- 
tendance on the Patriarch — " non reluisans d'or et de pierreries, comme les 
nostres, mais bien de sainctete et de bonne vie, et au reste couverts seulement 
de leurs pauvres habits ordinaires." 

" Apres disne, a cause de la beaute de ces montagnes, nous allasmesnous 
promener, et par le chemin les uns prirent plaisir a voir ces hautes mon- 
tagnes, les autres admirerent la quantite des ruisseaux. et les beaux jardin- 
ages remplis de belles fleurs. 

"Nous nous trouvasmes, sans y penser, au dessous du convent, dans le 
fond d'un vallon, qui d'en haut ne se pent regarder sans l'eblotiissement, 
paroissant comme un noir abysme effroyable, tant pour sa profondeur, qu'a 
cause du bruit du fleuve qui coule a travers : nous y demeurasmes pen, car 
le soleil s'abbaissant nous contraignit aussi de nous retirer et remonter au 
convent en diligence, ou ayans soupe, nous nous couchasmes sur les ter- 
races, au clair de la lune. 

" Le lendemain, a la pointe du jour, nous partismes pour aller voir les 
Cedres, en compagnie du Patriarche, et de TEvesque Georges, qui par hon- 
neur convoyerent Monsieur de Breves ; et, parvenus pres d'un grand village, 
situe sur une belle et fertile coste, entre des vallons bien cultives, nous 
rencontrasmes le Seigneur du lieu, suivy de deux arquebusiers, qui nous 
attendoit au passage, ayant fait apporter quantite de vivres sur le chemin, 
pain, vin, agnaux, chevreuils, volailles, le tout dresse a terre joignant une 
claire fontaine a l'ombre de huict ou dix cliviers. Nous repeusmes la sur 
l'herbe, puis tirasmes outre, et peu de temps apres, traversans un autre 
village de Maronites, le Seigneur de ce lieu se joignit aussi avec quatre 
arquebusiers, pour nous faire escorte contre les Arabes : nous vismes par les 
rues les femmes et les filles, assemblies en troupes, faire de grandes accla- 
mations de joye, fredonnant de la langue contre les dents, et a ce bruit toutle 



442 



NOTES. 



peuple sortit des maisous, courir en foule autour dudit Patriarche, pourrece- 
voir sa benediction, les nns luy baisoient les pieds, les autres les mains ou 
la robe, et ceux qui n'en pouvoient approclier se contentaient de baiser 
ceux qui l'avoient touche ; et par la campagne encore, de tant loin que les 
paysans l'appercevoient, quittans les charrues, les houes, les troupeaux, 
venoient a perte d'haleine luy faire la reverence, — tant est grand le respect 
que ce peuple porte a ses Prelats." 

Note 60, Page 358.— Mar Elislm. 

La Eoque gives a charming account of the Convent of Mar Elisha, then 
inhabited by monks of the order of Mount Carmel:— 

" Si nous fumes contens et meme touches de voir durant la nuit Pin- 
terieur de cette solitude, nous ne fumes pas moins satisfaits d'en considerer 
les dehors pendant le jour. On peut dire que c'est un des plus beaux 
endroits du Liban, sur tout par cette prodigieuse abondance d'eau qui sort 
de diverses ouvertures des rochers aux environs, en deca et en dela du fleuve, 
laquelle forme des napes, des cascades, et de petits torrens qui se precipitent 
dans le vallou et grossissent le fleuve. Cela, joint a l'agreable verdure des 
arbres et des bocages, forme un spectacle charmant durant le jour, et la 
nuit on est penetre, pour ainsi dire, d'une douce terreur par le bruit de ces 
eaux qui ne tarissent jamais. 

" Mais le plus bel omement de cette retraite est la sainte vie qu'y menent 
les religieux Carmes. On peut dire que c'est parmy eux qu'on trouve 
encore cet esprit de mortification et de detachement des choses de la terre 
qu'on admiroit autrefois dans les Anachoretes de 1' Orient. Eien n'est plus 
edifiant que la conversation de ces bons Hermites." — Voyage en Syrie, &c, 
pp. 76—78. 

The memory of De Chasteuil, a Provencal gentleman — the friend of 
Peiresc, and universally admired for his acquirements, especially in Oriental 
learning, but who broke away from all the fascinations of society and 
friendship to bury himself, in the flower of his age, in the wilds of Lebanon 
— was long and fondly cherished in the sacred valley, but especially among 
the recluses of Mar Elisha, with whom he spent the last few years of his 
life, dying in the odour of sanctity, a.d. 1644, prematurely worn out by the 
fasts and penances to which he subjected himself. The Maronites almost 
adored him, and in La Eoque' s time he was never mentioned by any other 
name than that of the Happy One.* 

Note 61, Page 361. 

See the 21st book of William of Tyre ; speaking of King Baldwin, he 
says, " II traversa les champs de Sidon, gravit les montagnes qui separent 
notre pays de celui des ennemis, et arriva en un lieu ou Ton trouve presque 

* According to the Oriental Christians, the Sethites, or '* Sons of God," set the 
first example of the monastic life by retiring to Mount Hermon, in the hope of regain- 
ing Paradise by the sanctity and purity of their lives ; despairing, at last, of this, and 
weary of celibacy, they descended to the plains, and intermarrying with " the 
daughters of men," their kinsmen of the race of Cain, begot the Giants. — D'Herbelot. 



NOTES. 



443 



tons les biens de ce monde, un sol fertile, de belles sources, et que Ton 
nomme Messaara; il desceudit de la dans la vallee dite de Baccar, et arriva 
dans une terre qui distille le lait et le miel, comme on lit dans les anciens 

historiens Anciennement, (Test a dire au temps des rois d'lsrael, il 

etait appele la foret du Liban, parceque la vallee qui le forme se prolonge en 
effet jusqu'au pied du Liban. II possede un sol fertile, des eaux tres- 
salubres, et se recommande en outre par l'abondance de sa population, par la 
grande quantite des \illages qu'on y rencontre, et par la douceur extreme de 
sa temperature. On montre dans la partie la plus basse de ce Tallon une 
ville, aujourd'hui encore entouree de fortes murailles, ou Ton trouve beau- 
coup d'antiques edifices qui attestent sa noblesse, et que Ton nomme de son 
nom moderne Amegarre. Ceux qui etudient l'antiquite pensent que c'est 

la ville de Palmyre Arrives dans ce pays, les notres se mirent a le 

parcourir librement, sans que personne s'y opposat, et livrerent tout aux 
flammes. Les habitans s'etaient retires dans les montagnes ; il n'y avail 
pas de chemin pour aller les y chercher, et en partant, des qu'ils furent 
instruits de la procbaine arrivee des notres, ils avaient conduit la plus grande 
partie de leur gros et menu betail dans les marais situes au milieu de la 
vallee, et qui fournissaient des paturages tres abondans. Pendant ce temps 
le comte de Tripoli, ayant passe, comme il avait ete convenu, a travers les 
cbamps de Biblios et aupres du chateau fort nomme Manetbere, entra tout- 
a-coup sur le territoire d'Heliopolis, et les notres apprirent bientot qu'il 
etait avec les siens dans la meme vallee, brulant tout sur son passage. Les 
premiers marcherent a la rencontre du comte des qu'ils furent informes de 
son approche ; celui-ci ne desiroit pas moins les retrouver, et ils se reunirent 
a peu pres au milieu de la vallee," &c.' — Histoire des Croisades, &c. t. 3, 
p. 326-7. 



" Inter Szaida et Maschgbaram, quae est ex aineenissimis illius regionis 
oppidis, secundum Al Azizi, vallis est, cui arbores et rivi plurimum decoris 
conciliant, ad 24 milliaria, procurrens. Maschgbara vero ab urbe Khamed 
dicta, quae olim princeps fuit illarum regionum, distat 6 milliaribus. Ab 
hac ad vicum qui vocatur Aain al Gjam," (Ain al Gam, alibi,) "sunt 18 
milliaria, et totidem ab hoc ad Damascum." — Abulfedce Tabula Syria, 
p. 93. 

Ain al Garri is the Amegarra* of William of Tyre, now called Handjiar, 
near Medjdel ; we passed it on the left, crossing the Bekaa on our return 
to Damascus. Abulfeda says, that in it are " monumenta magno saxo 
caesa." I am informed by Mr. Farren, that traces of the walls are still 
visible, but the materials have been carried off to build adjacent villages. 

" Monaitera," says Abou Obeid, quoted by Schultens, " est munimentum 
in Syria prope Tripolin." Its capture by Noureddin, in 1169, is said by 
Bohadin to have induced the retreat of the Christians from Egypt. — Vita 
Saladini, p. 32 

* Probably mistranscribed and misprinted for Ainegarra, in the original manu- 
script, the dot of the i being often omitted in old writing. 



444 



NOTES. 



Note 62, Page 364. 

Since this was written, Mr. Farren has ceased to occupy this important 
post ; or rather the office of Consul General has been done away. Resi- 
dents and travellers — all who are interested in Syria — will rue this. But 
the poor Indian Mussulmans, whose rights, as British subjects, Mr. F. 
asserted and established, to the astonishment of the Turks, and their own 
inconceivable delight and happiness — will rue it most, should the tyrants of 
the country again oppress them, and no one stand up as their friend. 

Note 63, Page 364— Beyrout. 

Baumgarten has drawn a sweet picture of Beyrout :— - 

" The same day we went out of the city to take a view of the situation 
of the town, and the ground about it ; we entertained ourselves with the 
charming pleasantness of these fields ; we saw many olive-yards and almond- 
trees just in their bloom, the land very fruitful and well-watered, abounding 
with pomegranate-trees, and trees of many other kinds, which at that time 
were full of fruit. This prospect afforded us a great deal of pleasure, and 
was the object of our admiration. For at the same time that in our coun- 
try the ground is covered all over with hoar-frost, the rivers frozen up, and 
the woods hardly able to sustain the weight of snow that is ready to break 
down all their boughs, here is a charming spring, the brooks sweetly glid- 
ing, and making a murmuring noise as they flow, adorned on both sides 
with grass and flowers, the trees so loaden with fruit, that they often sink 
and fall to the ground under their burden. And, which was still more 
wonderful, the mountains within our view were at the same time all covered 
with snow." — Book 3, c. 9. 

Fakr-ed-din's palace, described by Maundrell, is still to be seen at Bey- 
rout, but has lately been turned into a barrack by Ibrahim Pasha. 

Willibrand of Oldenborg, Canon of Hildesheim, nephew of Willibrand, 
Count of Harlemunt, and a pilgrim to the Holy Land in 1011 — describes 
the Castle of Beyrout as very strong, defended on one side by the sea and 
the precipice, and on the other side by a ditch, overlooked by two strong 
walls flanked by towers, in one of which, recently built, an apartment had 
been constructed of such beauty that he deplores his inability to do it justice 
in description. 

The pavement was a mosaic, most delicately imitating water agitated by 
the breeze; the walls were lined with marble slabs; while, depicted on the 
vaulted roof, (the result of the friendly emulation of the Syrians, Saracens, 
and Greeks, in their respective arts.) might be seen the clouds careering 
through the sky, zephyrs puffing and blowing, and the sun measuring out 
the months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes of the year, by his course 
through the zodiac. 

In the centre of the hall was a marble cistern, paved with a mosaic of 
flowers of every hue, so smoothly united and polished as not to offend the 
touch by the slightest inequality of surface. A dragon, elevating its head 



NOTES. 



445 



In the middle of the pool, disgorged a copious fountain, which cooled and 
freshened the warm breezes admitted freely by the windows disposed in 
beautiful order around the apartment, while the soft murmuring of the 
water lulled one insensibly to slumber — a luxury which the worthy Canon 
concludes by telling us he went there to indulge in, every day he sojourned 
at Beyrout. — Itin. Terra Sanctce, ap. L. Allatii Symmicta, pp. 126-7. 

YVillibrand's narrative, though written in barbarous Latin, contains much 
information as to the state of the castles and fortresses of Syria, at the 
commencement of the thirteenth century. His honesty in declining to 
speak of places he had not seen with his own eyes is as commendable as his 
constant practice of giving the Arabic names of tho-e he did visit. 



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